The Giant's of Yosen and their Mascots
by Rin Shizuko
Summary: All Yosen Regulars x Multiple female OC's. Atsushi and Himuro joined the Yosen team their first year, soon they met Manager Shiori, and not long later her best friend Chieko who works at a sweet shop of all things. Love strikes while they train for the Interhigh and Winter Cup in the strangest of ways but since when was anything normal? (I suck at summery's and change them often)
1. Prologue

Very few people got to see the Hisoka Candy and Pastry shop's kitchen, Shiori was one of the privileged few that happened to be the best friend of the two owners' only daughter. So quite often after school and basketball practice was over, Shiori joined Chieko in the back of the shop, watching her make the delicious sweets that were so well known throughout Akita as the most delicious treats in Akita. Shiori would argue and say all of Japan, but Chieko was pretty modest about that sort of praise, but only sometimes.  
Shiori always loved watching Chie work, she always seemed at peace when she was baking her sweets or mixing up the ingredients with such a serene expression on usually such a disinterested face. Said woman was staring at her triple chocolate cookies with purple M&amp;M's decorating the top intently, crouched low in front of the large oven, sweating from the heat it was giving off but refusing to move. Amethyst eyes focused on the batch, her usually long raven bangs pinned back with red clips Shiori let her borrow for work a few years ago, but never gave back. Shiori never asked for them back, either. Her multi-colored hair was tied into a tight bun as well; the raven curls mixed with sapphire, amethyst, ruby, emerald, and pink tied tightly so as to avoid getting anything in the food. She never wore a hair net, but she always made sure that hair would never get into the food; Chie would always make sure to never once touch her head at all, in hopes of keeping from letting the hair fall out and onto the dough or batter. Shiori had to smile to herself as she watched the rather tall woman stand up slowly, now at a full 6 feet tall in her flat black work shoes. Chie was tall compared to most girls her age, and despite working at a pastry shop she had a pretty nice figure, though Shiori never once saw the tie-dye haired woman work out, Chie had strong legs with firm thighs and a slender waist, her chest was something Shiori was sometimes envious of herself though. While Chie had D-Cup, Shiori had only C-Cup from all her working out. But then again, after looking at her mother Shiori didn't need to wonder how Chie got such a full figure. The woman was…voluptuous, to say the least. Sweet as a baby bird though, Chie turned out a little quiet and stubborn like her father though, big muscular man from his time as a professional boxer, so that was probably where Chie got her tallness from. But she certainly got her love of sweets from her mother, who's dream was to own a shop like this, and that dream came true thanks to the savings Chie's father had from his time as a boxer. Poor fellow took a punch to the eye that sent his vision a little foggy; he wears glasses now and can't really box professionally anymore. He still did pickup games with old friends now and then.  
Humming softly as Chie removed the batch of cookies from the oven, she brushed a hand through her silver and raven bangs that always fell into her silvery blue eyes rather annoyingly. She meant to get it cut, but never got around to it. Like Chie, Shiori had some dye jobs done to her hair at the same time the rainbow haired girl did. But she only got her bangs streaked in silver, while Chie got the last half of her long past the ass length raven hair dyed in many deep shades of her favorite colors. It was for Chieko's birthday, but the girl got Shiori into it too somehow. Not that she minded at all, she quite liked the look on her; the silver went well with her eye color. The rest of her raven hair was at it was, hanging down a past her chest by a couple  
"Chie-Chan," Shiori called out to the baker and got a humming sound to show she was heard as she sat the tray down on the island in the middle of the kitchen, where Shiori was sitting with their homework open and ready to be done. Well, Shiori was already done but she hung around for the company and the cookies. "Could I ask a favor, perhaps?" Once more, she got a hum of acknowledgment and to continue as the tall woman started breaking cookies off the pan with a spatula. "Would you be interested in cooking enough sweets for the whole basketball team, for a small party to those that sign up for the team tomorrow?" She asked softly, rather calmly despite the large amount of guys that were on the team. Shiori was the teams manager, since Masako was Coach she had to run it by her, and by some miracle the usual strict coach agreed to the party. "Ah…"Chieko said slowly, blinking amethyst eyes just as slowly as she thought it over.  
"…Sure…" She nodded slowly, Shiori pulling a bright smile at the answer. "Thank you, Chie-Chan!" She sang happily, clasping her hands together. "I will do your homework for you, as thanks! There are some really new interesting people in school, I am sure you will have fun watching, too!" Chie merely waved her hand, sighing softly. "Yeah yeah…" Chie was still happy, and Shiori knew that because though Chie was an A Student, she hated homework so damn much she always asked Shiori to do it for her so she could bake for the store. Shiori usually made her do it herself though, but times like these required a little spoiling for such a favor. Plucking a soft, warm cookie from the pan she let out a blissful sigh before then biting into the chewy goodness with her best friend. The two silently ate together before Chie got to work on the baking, as it would take a while.  
_"I have a pretty good feeling about this year…_" Shiori thought to herself with a small smile, having been the Manager for the team for a while now. She went to Yosen for middle school as well, and had been the team's manager since her second year. She herself was actually pretty good at Basketball, but the girl's team was terrible and she honestly, she enjoyed watching the boys playing and helping them enough that she didn't need to be the one playing. Masako needed the help; after all those boys were crazy.

(I Swear to God I will finish this story, and my others, maybe. Depends. xwx Well, you've met my first two OC's, got a couple chapters done but I will see how this does first...Plus I gotta read over what I got to double check everything. You can request extra pairings-Fukui, Okamura, Wei Liu, Masako. Just Yosen only, I am gonna do the other schools in separate stories later on. Probably gonna do Kaijo or Touou next...After this is done, probably. o3o;  
...Review...~ :'D )


	2. Chapter 1: Japanese Snack Time Rush

Shiori wasn't surprised there were so many people signing up, but she was surprised at how poorly Okamura was doing when it came to hitting on the girls that stopped to ask if there was a girls' team. Of course, Shiori directed them to the right booth but seeing Okamura strike out was so painful to watch sometimes…. A few times, she pondered if going on a pity date with him would be too cruel as well, and usually she decided not to try it. He was a sweet man, truly. He was just….so large she was scared he'd crush her by accident, and she just didn't have those sorts of feelings for him. "Ah, 24 sign ups so far, Fukui-Kun and Liu-Kun must be doing well out there." Shiori hummed as she stacked the sign up forms carefully, Okamura nodding with a slightly depressive look on his face. "S-Shinju-San...D-do you think I am ugly?" Oh god, someone kill her now. "Ah? Of course not! You're ruggedly handsome!" She patted his shoulder, trying to cheer him up. "Then why can't I get one lousy date!?" He pretty much cried, causing Shiori to flinch a bit. "A-ahh…Well…" Shiori trailed off, making him sob louder and then she began rubbing his back to soothe him as her last resort.  
Thankfully, soon another man walked up to them and Shiori looked up with a bright smile. "Hello! Here to sign up for the Yosen Basketball team?" She prayed he wasn't too put off by the crying Captain, but he only smiled as Shiori took this chance to examining his features. Slick black hair that fell down over his left eye, his right eye a dark amber with a mole right underneath the right corner, he was generally handsome and Shiori found herself giving a small blush at that sweet smile he gave her. "That I am, I hope there's still room?" He asked as he handed over the form, Shiori taking it with a nod. "Yes, we have a lot of room on the team!" She smiled brightly, looking down at the sheet.  
Tatsuya Himuro, 16, transferred in from America, his reason to join was he loved Basketball…and he wanted to meet someone again. Shiori looked up to ask what he meant, but her jaw slowly fell open at who was behind her.  
Himuro blinked slowly, finally noticing the shadow cast over his 6 foot tall form and turned around. He was just two inches shy of being 7 feet tall, his hair was a long purple and so were his eyes but they seemed to be a darker shade. He blinked down at them; expression bored as he munched on some chips in a bag he held in one hand, tucked under his arm was a form sheet. "Here…" Licking his fingers, the lazy, almost sarcastic voiced man grabbed the form and reached over Himuro's shoulder, handing Shiori the form. "T-thanks…" Shiori said slowly, Okamura stunned silent from the sheer size of the first year. "Atsushi Murasakibara, 16, formally of Teiko Middle school, reason for joining…Because Aka-Chin said to?" She questioned more than stated, looking up but blinked at the lack of Atsushi. "He went that way." Himuro pointed to the right, and both snapped their heads toward the tall purple haired man as he walked away. "Thank God for Aka-Chin… I think he sent us a Generation of Miracle to our door." Shiori said slowly, tucking the form away, Himuro chuckling as he looked down at the woman. "Well, Miss, I will see you later." He waved, Shiori and Okamura waving him off slowly as he walked away from them. "I knew I had a good feeling about this year..." She whispered, the Captain scoffing. "More like amazing!" He laughed as Fukui and Wei headed over to them. "Hey, guys did the giant purple haired guy come by yet!? I sent him here like 5 times but he kept coming back saying he was lost!" Fukui looked pretty excited as he slammed his hands down on the booth table, Shiori nodding. "And someone from America…." She smiled at the Vice Captain. "I am so excited for practice…!" Everyone was, really.

Lunch rolled around and Chie met Shiori on the school's roof as per every day, the two sharing the baker's sweets and Shiori let Chie pick from her Bento as she explained the previous events of the day to the bored woman. "Purple hair…." Was all she mumbled as Shiori giggled like a happy school girl, tucking her legs together and smoothing her skirt down a little more. "He was almost 7 feet tall, I swear! Yosen's going to have an amazing team this year; I bet we'll win the Inter High and the Winter Cup this year!" Though she didn't share the enthusiasm, Shiori knew Chie was happy for her. "Sounds like it will surely be good, Yosen was strong before." Chie went to all the games for Shiori, for every win Yosen got, Shiori won in her own way for assisting in training such strong players. "Didn't you go to America for a while?" Chie yawned softly; rubbing at her eyes as she laid against the fence lazily, finished eating so she'd probably fall asleep soon after Shiori replied. "Yes…summer vacation when I was young…Family moved there a long time ago, still go sometimes to visit so I can speak English very well." Shiori smiled softly as Chie gave a soft hum to show she heard her, but soon drifted to sleep.  
When the bell rang, Chie woke to everything cleaned up and ready to go. Yawning, the two walked to their shared class. Neither had really looked for Himuro or Atsushi, but Shiori shared two with Himuro and one with Atsushi. Chie actually had all her classes with Atsushi, but she literally didn't even notice him at all when she was in class.  
Not even when he got scolded for eating pocky during class, she had dozed off a few

Practice soon rolled around and Masako was talking to Shiori about the training regimen. "Hmm….I should be able to come up with something for everyone once I get a look at how they play." Shiori mused as she looked toward the doors to the boy's locker room, where everyone was getting changed for practice. "That purple one…He will certainly be useful." Masako nodded, arms crossed over her chest. "I am excited to see what he can do!" Shiori chirped, smiling brightly as the Coach almost seemed to smile at how happy Shiori was. The silver and black haired girl had a lot of respect for the former pro basketball player, and Masako was aware of how good at the game Shiori was. Not just planning, she was a good player too. Sometimes, when it was needed, Shiori would show the players just what they needed to do to get better, and was well aware of how shitty the girl's team was. It was safe to say, they had a mutual respect for the other.  
Still, Shiori was mildly scared of her  
"Ah, Chie-Chan is here." Shiori smiled as the tall woman came over, Masako frowning as she had to look up at the 6 foot tall teenager, being 5 inches shorter sucked. "Everything's ready, when did you need that again…?" Chieko asked slowly, scratching the back of her neck softly. "After practice, Chie-Chan. You can go sleep on the bleachers if you want." Shiori waved her hand over at the steel bleachers, the tall girl grumbling softly. "Doesn't look comfy…." Shiori hummed softly. "Use your bag?" Sighing, the long haired girl walked toward the bleachers, grumbling to herself about having to pack a pillow for her naps. "Why is she always tired…?" Masako asked with an eye twitch, probably irritation with her grumbling. "Chie is an insomniac, she usually spends all night reading books since she can't sleep and she can't bake in the middle of the night. She usually gets tired during the day, sadly." She explained with a soft sigh. "She hates medicine, so getting her to take sleeping pills is impossible and she hates the taste of herbal teas and such for helping with sleeping either." Masako merely nodded as the boys started pouring from the doors in large groups.  
"Here we go…" Shiori stayed silent as Masako made the loud announcements-which were simple. Two players would be picked out of the groups of first years and the seconds and third years to replace the previous regulars who had graduated the year before. The rest would be split into the second and third strings. Shiori would be helping in the decision, but in the end Coach Masako and Captain Okamura had the final say in the matter. Both respected her opinions on the matter though, she was pretty good at finding talented players. She found Wei, after all.  
Looking over the crowd, it wasn't hard to find Himuro and Murasakibara, actually they were standing together. Two first years together wasn't too surprising, but Shiori was amazed the giant had clothes in his size.  
Looking over, Shiori smiled when she noticed that Chie had in fact, noticed the giant purple haired player. But, soon thereafter she fell asleep lying her head down on her bag. Sighing, she smiled and stayed silent as the Coach split everyone up into groups and had them begin their stretching and then sent them off for warm ups. Pulling a notebook from her bag, she flipped it open and started looking over the names she listed herself. Thankfully, she had a good memory. It wasn't hard for to recall who was who, and she was able to write down notes on that particular player's stats and such for later use.  
Soon though, she was drawn to Murasakibara and Himuro.  
Not a single player could get past Atsushi's blocking ability, he barely had to jump most of the time when they tried to shoot, or dunk it in. He didn't move around much, mainly staying under the net. "His height and wingspan are amazing…." She mumbled as she wrote down her notes on the player, and then looked toward Himuro.  
Quite honestly, it was like watching a dance….He flew through a screen like it was nothing and performed a perfect three pointer without a flaw in his form. "Shooting Guard for sure, what amazing fakes and form…." She mumbled as she wrote down her notes furiously, silvery hues glinting in pure delight at the amazing player. "I gotta agree!" Shiori jumped when she noticed Fukui had joined her side. "He's good, Okamura and Coach see it too, and he'll be on the Regulars that's for sure." Nodding in her own agreement, Shiori looked toward the handsome boy as he wiped his sweat on his shirt. "You're right, Fukui-Kun…." She mumbled and the Vice Captain pouted. "Just call me Kensuke, Shiori-Chan, no need for formalities." He sang happily, the manager chuckling at him. "Sure, Kensuke-Kun…." That seemed to please him enough, because he soon left to join the / Looking toward a sleeping Chieko, the manager soon resumed her work intently. She had a lot of new comers to check out for Coach Araki, after all.

Himuro quite liked it here, the school was very nice and the regulars were amazing players. He had to focus on his own playing of course, if he wanted to get on the regulars team but he couldn't help but let his eyes trail over the others as they played. Fukui was an excellent point guard, excellent timing and his range was impressive to say the least. Okamura's size certainly helped with being a Power Forward, he still had the speed to back it up too, and Wei was good in his own right as well.  
And then there was Atsushi, which the giant barely did anything but smack balls away from his side of the court and so far, not a single ball had gotten through. They'd gotten along well enough; he had to help the purple haired Titan find his way to the dorms for the night because he had gotten lost and suddenly Atsushi started relying on him to help him get around, thankfully they had most of their classes together so it wasn't too much of a problem and honestly Himuro didn't mind. Atsushi was like…a really big kid that could probably pop your head like a balloon with his bare hand alone.  
Disturbing thought, but true all the same.  
Humming, he brushed a hand through his hair and looked to the left, where he saw that girl from the booth taking a basketball from one of the other First Years. Blinking in mild surprise, he watched her show the boy how to do a hook shot. He was impressed, despite being just the manager she had very little flaw in her form, and Himuro had a feeling there would be no flaw if she were practicing regularly. Ah, he needed to learn her name…  
He snapped from his thoughts when a shadow loomed over him, again, and tilted his head back to look up at the purple Titan. "Ah, Atsushi, what are you doing?" The man merely yawned. "Got bored." Sweat dropping at his blunt answer, he merely handed him a ball. "Why not do something besides guarding the net, then?" Atsushi's reply was to slowly walk to the net while dribbling the ball, many stopping just to watch the giant doing something they had yet to see. Himuro blinked, and as soon as Atsushi got within dunking distance he suddenly leaped into the air and slammed the ball into the hoop hard enough the damn thing made a creaking sound right before the hoop popped right off. Everyone's jaw dropped again but Himuro's, his eye was just as wide as a dinner plate. Even Chie woke up, amethyst eyes as wide as Himuro's as she watched the giant examine the hoop with a bored expression on his face. "H-He broke the hoop…" Shiori spluttered, Masako taking a moment to be in shock before she got out that damned Shinai and struck the giant on the back, Atsushi yelping and dropping the hoop with a loud clang when it hit the ground.  
"Idiot! You broke the damn hoop who breaks a hoop!?" Masako hissed, Atsushi looking more like a dog that had been punished for the first time in its life. "Ahh? It's not my fault the hoop was so weak…" Atsushi muttered, scratching his head softly and looking toward Himuro slowly. "He told me to do it." He pointed toward the man, who then flinched under the Coach's harsh gaze. "I-I didn't tell him to break the hoop I said to try something besides guarding the net!" He quickly defended, and slowly Araki looked away but he wasn't sure he was off the hook just yet. "Everyone switch to half Court until the hoop is fixed…" She said slowly, Shiori going in closer to look at the hoop more thoroughly. "He…broke the bolts." She whispered to herself, the Coach looking up and narrowing her dark blue eyes. "Let's go talk to Okamura." Nodding, the two gathered the Captain and talked to him off by the bench.  
Chie sat up and watched the giant of a man resume his previous job of guarding the remaining net. He barely had to do much, really. Just stand there and swat balls away like flies, no one was getting by not even the other regulars playing until Atsushi yawned, eyes closing and then Wei Liu tossed in a quick shot. Shaking her head, Chie was just baffled by him. "A Titan…" She mumbled with a soft chuckle before then lying back down once more. Sadly, 10 minutes later Shiori woke her up to get the sweets ready and Chie noticed the boys had cleared out to the locker room for shower time. "Yeah…" She mumbled, getting up and heading to the Home Economics class to get the huge amounts of sweets she'd brought over from home that morning.

"Ah, I can't wait to go home and put my feet up…" One of the First years mumbled as they headed out of the locker room, having to go through the gym to leave. "Mmm, I am hungry…" Was Atsushi's reply as he looked up at the ceiling and not where he was walking. "I think you're always hungry, Atsushi." Himuro chuckled softly as he walked beside the Titan. "Mmm…Yeah…" Himuro couldn't help but laugh at that reply as they walked through the doors into the gym.  
Everyone stopped in their tracks when they saw the huge spread of delicious sweets lying on 6 tables. Cookies, cakes, pies, muffins and brownies, in all flavors of a huge variety and each tray had a little tag saying what was what probably to avoid any allergic reactions. To say the least, it was an amazing sight. "To all those that have decided to stay on the team, give thanks to Chieko Hisoka for cooking all these treats as a congratulations for making it this far, and to a new school year!" Masako called, pointing toward that sleepy tie-dyed hair woman Himuro recalled sleeping on the bleachers during practice. She was standing by the manager he recalled needing to get the name of, by the table that had the cookies set up on mainly. "And before you go wild, Tatsuya Himuro and Atsushi Murasakibara have been picked to be the regulars that replace our two graduated regulars from last year. Before you leave, give Manager Shinju your sizes for the Regular jerseys you will get in a few days' time." The Coach instructed, the two mentioned nodding slowly. "Tomorrow, check the bulletin to find out the rest of your string assignment." After that, Masako nearly fell over as the boys rushed to the table of sweets, Himuro looking up to find Atsushi already gone and eating the brownies first.  
"Shinju…" He mumbled and then looked toward the girl as she quickly snatched up some cookies for her and Chieko. "Well, that's a last name." He chuckled, more calmly walking toward the crowd. "Japanese Snack Time Rush…"

"Man these guys are going at it…" Chie mumbled as she nibbled on her triple chocolate chip cookie, Shiori nodding as she did the same to an oatmeal raisin cookie. "Your sweets are truly amazing, Chie-Chan." Grunting softly in reply, Chie bowed her head a little as Himuro managed to slip in beside them and grab a peanut butter cookie and take a bite. "Ahh, these are good…" He smiled, looking toward the two girls. "Thank you for making all this for us; it's a great surprise after such a rigorous training session." Chie merely nodded as Shiori gave a sly smile. "Don't worry; tomorrow Coach Araki will make sure to work you guys to the bone to work off all the calories." She sang softly, holding out a hand to the other male. "I can't wait." He took her hand, finding it to be callused like his own from playing basketball all his life and shook it firmly, keeping as much eye contact one could with bangs that fell over one eye entirely, and her own falling into her eyes quite a bit. "Tatsuya Himuro, I thought I should give a more proper introduction this time around, Manager-San." He smiled sweetly, Shiori fighting down that blush.  
Damn his handsome face, she didn't want to blush so much but he was making it hard. "Shiori Shinju, it's a pleasure to meet you Himuro-San. This is Chieko Hisoka; she's a close friend of mine." She looked toward the woman, and blinked as the taller woman looked right at Himuro, the two being the exact same height. "It's nice to meet you, Hisoka-San." He held his hand out toward her as well, and Chie very slowly shook it but kept eye contact as well. "Yo…" She then went back to watching Murasakibara devour the cake table.  
"There will be no left overs…" Was what she mumbled before going to said table in hopes of getting to have at least a bite of the strawberry shortcake she had made. "Never thought I'd see someone so large…" She mumbled and scratched her head as Himuro nodded. "Indeed, so Shinju-San do you live on campus, or at home?" He asked, striking up conversation with the woman as he snacked on the sweets. "Campus, but I go to Chie-Chan's place every day after school for homework and come back before curfew." She answered cheerfully, licking her fingers softly. "You two seem pretty close….I have a single dorm, no one's bunking with me just yet." He chuckled softly, picking up a triple chocolate cookie from a small pile. "It's amazing, isn't it?" She asked with a small smile, the boy laughing. "Very true…."  
Atsushi was reaching for a slice of strawberry short cake with his bare hand before it was snatched away by another one. It was the last slice, and Atsushi hadn't tried it just yet. "Oi…." He looked up slowly, a small scowl on his face before his lips formed a thin line at the woman that had made the sweets. "Don't eat everything." She grunted before taking a bite of the cake slice on the other side of the table. Staring silently, Atsushi walked around the table without losing eye contact as Chieko chewed on the bite silently. Slowly, he stopped in front of her and looked down at the tall woman as he reached out and grabbed her wrist. She paused, staring up at him quietly as he lifted her hand and turned it so the end she bit from was facing him. Everyone watched with wide eyes as he chomped a good portion of the cake slice off and released her wrist. "Good…." He praised offhandedly, licking his lips with a small smile before he resumed eating the other cake slices. Slowly blinking, Chie watched him before she nodded. "Thanks," and then she went back to eating her cake until it was gone and all she had to do was lick the icing off her fingers.  
Instead a hand grabbed her wrist again. "I didn't get to try any of the icing…" He pouted softly, and everyone once more watched with jaws dropped as he licked the girl's fingers clean of the white icing. "You…are so weird…" She mumbled, a light pink tinting her cheeks from the huge man's actions. "Tastes good though…" He mumbled, releasing her hand. Sighing, Chie wiped her fingers clean on a napkin. "You should try the pie." Chie stated calmly before wandering back over to Shiori and Himuro, who'd watched the whole thing with quite a bit of amusement. "Pie…" He grinned a bit and wandered over to that  
"He's a fucking sweets monster." Chie told them before snatching a cookie off the table and chomping down, and Shiori could have sworn that blush got a little darker. "I don't think she's ever been flustered like that before…" She whispered to Himuro, the boy laughing. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me…"

(Welp, this one was considerably longer than the last. Hopefully, this one kinda gives you a better idea of what you're reading, and maybe more incentive to review?)


	3. Chapter 2: Cause I Like It Here

Shiori had spent her entire night working on homework and the training regimen and who got on what string for the new players that signed up, so instead of going over to Chie's shop she stayed in her dorm room working all night. Thankfully, she was in bed by midnight so she had at least 6 hours of sleep before she had to get up for school. She ran the schedule and lists by Masako, and she approved of it and the bulletin was up before class began, so everyone got to check their positions and would later find out what they'd be doing during practice. She'd also sent in the sizes to the school for the jersey sizes needed for Murasakibara and Himuro's jersey's and the face they made at Murasakibara's was just plan amusing to say the least. They had asked her if she was messing with them on purpose, but after they found his file they put the request in.  
Practice went amazingly, however Atsushi was missing and Masako was pissed off about his absence. There wasn't much that could be done though; no one knew where he'd gone. "I will make sure to ask Atsushi what happened next I see him." Himuro told Shiori and Masako before practice started, and the two had to deal with that for now.  
They weren't exactly aware he'd gone out to search for more sweets like the heavenly ones from the day before.

Chieko was stuck in charge of the store for the day, her mother and father working in the back for the time being. She did her homework some time ago, so she was sitting at the counter looking bored as per usual. Even when doing something, she looked bored as hell.  
And then he walked in, the giant that had to duck just to walk in the door, the giant that licked her damn fingers clean just the day before. His deep purple eyes were looking around the shop with a look of lust-lust for sweets that is. She wasn't too surprised; people that first come in always have interesting reactions. The walls were painted bright blue with painted candy and sweets in various neon colors that just looked goofy, but a lot of the kids loved it. Shelves were stacked with sweets they'd ordered for the more well-known brands of candy that they couldn't copy, others were packaged sweets made by hand in the back kitchen and in the front was the freshly baked sweets that were made while Chieko was in school.  
Chieko could only watch as Atsushi picked up one of the baskets by the door for the customers that were getting more than a handful, and blinked as mere minutes later he was sitting the basket down in front of her with sweets piled far above the baskets edge. "Can you even afford this…?" She asked slowly before she began ringing it all up. "Yes." He nodded firmly, but then paused and looked thoughtful, before he nodded again. "I can." Chieko paused and stared at him before she returned to her job. "Chie-Chin, did you make any of this?" He asked curiously, head cocked as once more the tie-dyed haired woman stopped and looked up at the giant. Thankfully, her own pretty good size made it easier to see him, but she still scowled.  
"Chie-Chin?" She questioned the nickname with a rather perturbed expression, brow raised as the giant's expression didn't change. "Yes, Chie-Chin, did you make any of this?" He repeated the question like she hadn't heard him and the teenager merely rubbed her nose. "Yes….I made the chocolate muffins before school this morning…." She replied back calmly, before once more resuming ringing everything up. "Good," was all he stated as he watched her ring everything up. When she finished, she looked up at him slowly. "That will be 76 dollars and 50 cents…." Nodding, Atsushi handed her a debit card and she rang him up. "…You're 3 dollars short." Pausing, he looked at his wallet and frowned a bit. "…..Oh, sorry I misread that, you're fine…" She didn't know what possessed her to do such a thing, but it got him to smile rather…handsomely. "Thanks Chie-Chin." He chirped and took the bags from the counter before walking around the counter, ignoring Chie's flustered protests as he took a seat on a chair behind the counter. "W-what are you doing?" She spluttered as her eyes widened as he just started digging through the bags. "Eating," he stated it like it was the most obvious thing in the world and pulled out the package of dark chocolate muffins. He ripped it open, and offered one to Chie as he bit into the other. "Uh…"Amethyst eyes blinked before she slowly took it from him and bit into it. "Good…"He praised happily as he started eating the muffin. Looking away, she sighed and closed her eyes. "Yeah, it is…" She mumbled and licked her fingers clean as someone came in to shop.

The day was pretty busy, her parents didn't come out of the back since they knew she could handle it and they had to work on a very intricate wedding cake for a couple of regulars that were getting married.  
The entire damn evening Atsushi stayed behind the counter eating his sweets and watching her work, Shiori didn't stop by since she had to cram for an exam that Chie already knew she'd ace with or without the extra studying. But Shiori was always careful, since she didn't want to risk her position as manager of the Yosen team. It was…strangely nice though, Atsushi didn't talk much and sometimes he gave her half or one of the sweets he was eating when she wasn't busy with customers. A few questioned his presence, but Chieko just shook her head and shrugged. They went with that, and went on with their day. At 7 Chieko was sweeping up the store when she noticed Atsushi had finished all his snacks. "Going back to the dorms?" She asked as he threw away the last of the trash. "Yes, bye bye Chie-Chin." He waved, before just wandering outside. "…I think the school is in the other direction though…" She mumbled as he went left instead of right. Oh well, not her concern.

The next day was a repeat of the last, however he got considerably less treats than before and he brought some with him. And now she realized why Shiori was ranting at lunch about Atsushi missing practice the day before. He was sitting with her at the shop with her after school instead….naturally; she kept this to herself instead of telling the furious girl.  
She'd find out after practice, anyway….

Looking up, she figured about 15 minutes before the silver and black haired girl got here, and looked toward the giant eating in the corner. "Why do you come here?" She asked bluntly, Atsushi looking up at her slowly. "Cause I like it here." Was all he said before he started eating again. Shrugging it off, she looked toward the door and waited silently until a furious Shiori stormed in, oddly with Himuro trailing behind her. "Murasakibara-San didn't show up again, and we can't find him! Chie-Chan, you have classes with him do you know where he-" She suddenly stopped and looked toward the giant as he made a rather loud crunch on the chocolate pocky stick in his mouth, everyone freezing before Shiori pointed at him. "You! Why are you here!? And why didn't you tell me he was here!?" She pointed toward Chie, who just pushed her finger away from her face slowly. "Didn't wanna hear you yelling twice in one day…." She answered, the Manager letting her head fall down on the counter slowly. "Geh…." Himuro went behind the counter and sighed at Atsushi. "Atsushi, why are you here instead of practice?" He frowned at the large man, who merely blinked. "I don't feel like it," he replied back stubbornly before he resumed chewing on his pocky stick. "And you're fine with me telling the Coach this?" Atsushi nodded, not looking up from his stick. "Very well, then…." Himuro sighed through his nose, then went back over to Shiori and rubbed her back. "Hope you don't mind the company, Hisoka-San. Shinju-Chan said she'd show me the sweet shop." Said woman was clearly giving off an aura that was worthy of growing mushrooms. "Its fine, parents are gone catering at some party." She waved her hand, Shiori slowly raising her head and leading Himuro back behind the counter and through the back door. Atsushi merely blinked at Chie's stare. "You're pretty arrogant; to skip practice like that." She stated brazenly, the purple haired giant giving a shrug in return. "I hate practice, so boring…I hate losing more though…." The baker looked pretty surprised that he called basketball boring, yet he made it on the regulars in one day. "Then how do you expect to win sitting here eating sweets with me?" Atsushi yawned softly. "I'll practice when Chie-Chin goes to practice with me and brings her sweets."  
Damn that bastard, he was making her have to decide between Yosen's victory and defeat, sort of.  
"Ass…." She didn't see him smiling.

"I can't believe he's been here every day…" She groaned and rubbed her head as Himuro examined the kitchen. "It's a sweet shop, can't be too surprised with Atsushi…Wow this place is so big…" He mumbled, walking around and looking at all the different supplies and machines made for baking and cooking. "Yeah, it's pretty cool. Chie-Chan's dad makes the candy while Chie-Chan and her mom make the baked goods more." She hummed, looking at the taffy maker with a small smile. "Valentine's Day must be a pretty good day, for them." Himuro pointed out, since that kind of day must lead to a lot of sales. "Yeah, they're always packed full on Valentine's Day, it sucks since Chie always has to work that day…" She sighed softly, brushing a hand through her bangs to brush them from her face. "What do you mean?" He furrowed his brows, the Japanese girl chuckling. "Chie was born on Valentine's Day." Himuro blinked rapidly. "Oh…Well that's pretty cool, actually." Shiori nodded her agreement, leaning against the counter she usually studied at. "I agree, but they're always so busy Chie usually doesn't have a party till the day after Valentine's Day." She explained with a wave of the hand, Himuro humming thoughtfully.  
After the tour ended, the two joined the other pair outside the kitchen and began studying together, well Himuro and Shiori did, Atsushi ate and Chie worked in silence.

"I am not working tomorrow; I'll come to practice with you Shiori." Chie suddenly spoke up after being silent for so long, all three heads perking up to the girl as she cleaned up the shop for closing. "Oh, sure if you want to." Chie rarely went to practice with Shiori; she just slept through it when she did though. "Alright, see ya later Chie-Chan!" Shiori waved and left with the two boys, Himuro wouldn't let Atsushi go to his dorm until Shiori was escorted to her dorm room safely though.  
"Have a good night, Shinju-San." He smiled, Shiori chuckling. "Night Himuro-Kun, Murasakibara-Kun, and I think at this point calling me Shiori would be fine." She waved her hand dismissively, before going inside. "Shiori-Chan…." He smiled voice gentle and quiet, almost wistful and then noticed Atsushi's weird stare. "What?"  
"Why did you say her name like that?" Atsushi asked calmly, Himuro chuckling. "First time saying it." He turned, leading the giant to his dorm that was just across from his own.  
"Muro-Chin is so weird…." Himuro only laughed.

(I guess I will update once a month or so, unless I actually get reviews. Followers are still nice, though. Hence this before work update. But yeah, review for more.)


	4. Chapter Three: Atsushi's First Practice

"What the hell is this…?" Chie scowled at the purple gunk coating the inside of her locker, eye twitching softly. Looking over from her own locker, Shiori blinked softly. "Looks like you got on someone's bad side, maybe that guy you turned down last week?" Chieko furrowed her brows, and then let out a quiet sigh. "Probably…."

_Chieko was putting away the last book in her locker she wouldn't need for her class when someone hit the locker beside hers loudly. Slowly, she closed the locker and looked at the boy leaning on Shiori's locker, scowling softly. "Can I help you?" He was handsome, raven hair framing a perfect face and sapphire eyes that were a nice bright shade like the stone itself. "Ishiga-Senpai….?" He was the Captain of the Kendo team, now she recalled who he was because of that one time he asked her to bake some cookies for his cousin's birthday. "Hey, Chieko-Chan." He sang softly, looking her over. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me later? Maybe a movie at my place…." He grinned at her, and Chie was pretty sure she knew his real intentions. "There wouldn't be a movie waiting to be watched, and I really don't have any desire to watch a movie or do what you really wanna do." Chie slung her bag over her shoulder, turning to leave but he grabbed her upper arm tighter than she expected. "Oi come on I can promise a good time-"He froze when a large hand suddenly landed on top of his head, pulling him away from Chie rather roughly. "Chie-Chin, I forgot where class was can you take me?" He blatantly ignored Ishiga, who was glaring daggers at the back of the Titan's head. "….Yeah…." She spoke to the taller man slowly, who just had that stupid smile on his face as he followed her down the hall. Chieko didn't look back at Ishiga's face, she didn't need to. She knew he was pissed off. _

Snapping from her train of thought when she heard her name, Chieko looked toward Shiori who looked mildly nervous. "You sure you're gonna be okay?" Shiori looked truly concerned for her friend, but Chieko nodded. "Yeah, gotta clean my books. Tell the teacher what happened, will ya?" Shiori nodded, heading off as Chieko slowly pulled the books from the locker with a small frown. "Disgusting…."

Shiori ran into Himuro and Atsushi on the way to class, the two looking mildly confused. "Where's Hisoka-San?" Himuro asked the question Atsushi was about to, the girl sighing. "Someone put a weird gunk bomb in her locker, thankfully it went off before she completely opened it so she's fine, but all her books and stuff are covered…." Atsushi frowned, amethyst eyes narrowing. "Who did it?" Shiori didn't question the darker tone then he usually would have, but she shrugged. "Dunno, Chie thinks its Ishiga-Senpai getting revenge for getting rejected the other day though…" Shiori sighed, smiling tiredly. "Excuse me; I have to go tell the teacher." She went into the class, Himuro looking up at Atsushi. "What do you think?" All he got was a shrug before Atsushi went into class, Himuro following behind with a soft sigh. He just hoped nothing went sour.

Once more, practice went on without a hitch, besides the missing Titan Atsushi Murasakibara that is. Chie was there, sitting in the bench with a box beside her. No one bothered her, until everyone noticed that a certain giant had wandered in, wearing his uniform. "You finally came!?" Masako struck him in the back with her Shinai, making the Titan yelp and look down at the small woman with a frown. "That hurt Masa-Chin…." Masako twitched. "Masa-Chin!? Call me Coach damn it!" Shiori giggled behind her clipboard, Himuro looking rather amused as the large man walked over to Chie and knelt down in front of the tall girl. "Bring any sweets?" Chie blinked, glancing at her backpack silently. Atsushi reached in and pulled out a box of cookies and ate a few before tucking them away. Standing, he pat her head softly with his large hand and went over to Shiori.  
"What do you want me to do, Shi-Chin?" Shiori blinked slowly at the nickname, smacking Fukui when he snickered with her clipboard. "We'll be doing a practice match, uh you can play with Himuro since you're both First years….It's a three on three your third man will be…" She looked at the second string list to pick one, but Masako decided on her own. "Shinju-San will be your third player." Shiori nearly choked on her own breath before she looked up at Masako. "M-Ma'am I don't think-"Masako waved her hand. "You said you used to be a Point Guard for your Middle school team, didn't you?" She rose a brow, Shiori sweating under the pressuring gaze. "It was _a _middle school team, not for Yosen or anything just a bunch of girls getting together for fun!" Masako shrugged her shoulders calmly. "Still, Hisako-San you won all three games you played." Shiori sent said girl a sharp glare. "Did she neglect to say she was playing, too?" Chieko looked away calmly, making Shiori grumble softly. "She did, but I still want you to play." The Coach's words were final, and Shiori grumbled as she went to the locker room to pull on the smallest uniform they had.  
Chieko stayed silent until Shiori returned; looking quite awkward as she shifted the shorts she had to wear. "Whose are these….?"  
"Fukui-Kun's." Okamura chirped, the Point Guard grinning at her grumble. "Shall we begin, then?"

It took three jumps before Atsushi stopped grabbing the ball before it hit the right height to be caught, and Shiori realized she'd have a lot to work with when it came to getting Murasakibara ready for the games to come. Generation of Miracles or not, he was a stubborn case, but she learned to deal with Chieko, she could deal with him.

The ball hit Shiori's hand and she was hit with a nostalgic feeling of getting to play again, but quickly snapped from that when Okamura headed right for her. Swiftly passing the ball to the left right as Okamura got in front of her, Himuro caught it and slipped past Wei Liu's guard. He always did make the best fakes. Shiori tried to keep Okamura back, but she was too small and the Gorilla moved right past her and after Himuro. He was too late though, Himuro jumped and the ball went flying into the net. "3 point's right off the bat, not bad." Masako hummed as she watched the game.  
Atsushi stayed primarily under the net, so they were down one really tall man, but there was an upside to this. No one could get a ball past Atsushi, every single time they tried he smacked it away like it was an annoying fly. "Good job, Atsushi!" Himuro called as he ran off with the ball he'd smacked away from Fukui's attempt at shooting over his head, the purple haired man merely yawning. "Mhm…." Okamura slid into Himuro's way though, and Himuro quickly stopped but tossed the ball to the side and Shiori caught it. "Ah shit, Shiori!" Fukui swore as Wei ran towards the girl as she quickly shot the ball from the side of the court. Another swish and that was 6 to 0.  
"She's better than I thought…." Masako mumbled as Shiori wiped her sweat on her shirt, well Fukui's shirt. "As cute as it is to see her in my shirt, we're getting our asses handed to us in the First Quarter." Fukui grumbled to Okamura and Wei Liu. "It wouldn't quite be so bad if they didn't have the set of Aces…" Wei mumbled as he glanced at Himuro and Atsushi. "There's still three left, we're good." Okamura slammed his fists together, grinning. "Let's go!"

Despite his attempt at cheering his team up, they were crushed pretty hard. 89 to 6 because Atsushi stopped paying attention twice when he yawned and got caught watching Chieko eat her cookies. They took that chance to toss in two three pointers thanks to Fukui and Wei Liu, but in the end Atsushi proved to be invaluable to the team.  
Now, if only they could keep him at practice….  
Sweating hard, panting hard, and looking like hell Shiori dumped water on her head. "Haven't played in so long…" She groaned, her body burning from the ache of all that moving and running she wasn't quite used to it. "You look tired…." Chie noted as Masako joined them. "Very good, hit the showers before the boys get in there." Grunting, Shiori got to her feet and managed to hobble off to the showers. "She's going to be feeling that tomorrow…." Himuro chuckled as he walked over and grabbed a towel. "Shiori works out once a week; she spends most of her time working for the team with her books and stuff…." Chieko mumbled as Captain Okamura came over. "Chieko, did you bring them?" The girl nodded and picked up that box that had been beside her for a while, handing it over to the large man. "Ahh, thank you mom's gonna love these!" He grinned, and then handed over some cash to the girl. "Enjoy." She mumbled, tucking the cash in her bag. "Hmm?" Atsushi blinked, sitting down beside Chieko.  
"He wanted me to make cookies for his mother." She explained with a shrug, not sure why she was explaining herself, really. "Mom's been craving them since I brought some home from the party, this should last her a couple days." Okamura mused as he went to put the cookies in his locker. "Captain Shiori is still in there." Himuro had an oddly dark smile on his face that made the Captain flinch. "S-sorry I forgot!" He was being honest, but that didn't make the scary smile go away. "Muro-Chin is scary…" Atsushi whispered to Chieko, the girl nodding a bit. "Indeed…." Both looked away when the smile turned to them, both sweating profusely under such an intense gaze.

Later when Shiori returned, hair damp but looking much cleaner than she had, she didn't quite understand why the team was acting so…distant toward her. She wasn't aware that Himuro was rather scary in his protective nature, and no one bothered to explain his little scary side to her.

Practice was over, so Shiori and Chie helped clean up while the boys took their turn in the showers, and right after the set of freshmen went to the sweets shop together.  
Everything was great, but no one knew about Chie's repeated issue with the purple gunk bombs in her locker, not even Shiori.


	5. Chapter Four: Yet Here I Lie

"This is getting fucking ridiculous…." Chieko hissed, glaring at the gunk draining from the corners of her locker. Thankfully, Shiori had something to do so she ran off before Chie had to explain why she wasn't opening her locker. "Three bombs in one? Fuck…." She mumbled, pausing when she heard someone hit the locker beside hers, again. Slowly looking over at Ishiga's grinning face, Chie growled. "How many more times are you going to do this?" She asked bluntly, slamming the locker shut. "'Till you say yes to going out with me," He replied back bluntly, that lazy grin on his face still. "I refuse, again. You should be used to this by now you pathetic sack of shit." Chie growled, walking away from the rather pissed Third Year.

"Little bitch…."

Lunch time came around and Shiori had something to do, so Chie was left by herself on the roof. It was safe to say, she was a little worried now after Ishiga confronted her again. He was becoming…problematic and she didn't want others to know about her growing situation.  
When the roof door opened, she was pretty surprised to find it was Atsushi walking in with three bento boxes. "Atsushi?" She blinked; calling him by his first name was a habit she formed since he refused to use anything but that ridiculous nickname. "Shi-Chin said Chie-Chin would be alone on the roof and that I should give her company while she and Muro-Chin help the teacher."  
Chie blinked slowly as he settled down beside her without asking for permission, opening each rather unhealthy looking meal. Chie didn't question it; she just pulled her pillow out and lay down on the ground, sighing softly. Atsushi watched her sleep as he ate, amethyst eyes blinking softly. It was only a few minutes before Chie yelped as her pillow was pulled out from under her head, causing her head to hit the concrete roughly.

"Fuck…" She sat up, rubbing the back of her head before she looked toward the very large man, using her own pillow for his head. "What the hell was that for?" She scowled at him, crawling over to the large man to take her pillow back. However, once she was in range a long muscular arm went around her waist and she was yanked onto his chest. "Gah!" She grunted when she hit his rather muscular chest, for someone who ate so many damn sweets, blinking as his arm trailed up and his hand lowered onto her head and kept her down against his chest. "I wanna sleep too, now we both have a pillow." Chie's face was probably as red as a strawberry right now; she realized this because her face felt like it was being burned by a damn hot flame. "You….You're terrible…." Atsushi was already snoring, but he was smiling.  
Little did they know that someone was watching them with the disapproving scowl of a jealous asshole.

Sadly, they both over slept and missed the next class, but got to the one after it without too much trouble. Chie still blamed him for not waking them up, but that pouty face he made was hard to get mad at…  
Still, he was weirdly clingy all day. He walked with her to every class, even to her locker which she thankfully cleaned out before and there wasn't another gunk bomb, but that didn't stop him from looking at her weirdly when she opened the door very slowly. And now, he wanted to walk home with her.  
"Atsushi….My locker is in the opposite direction of yours, I will meet you at the gate…" She stated firmly, but Atsushi wouldn't release her hand. "Don't wanna…" Trying once more to pull away, Chie groaned. "Atsushi! I don't know what's wrong with you, but please just let me go for God's sake!" She blew up a little bit, her voice louder than usual, and that made him slowly retract his hand from her much smaller one. "…Okay…Bye Chie-Chin…." He turned, walking off before Chie could react.  
"Why did he look so upset….?" She mumbled before then going to her locker to get her things. Once cleaned out she clean leave her books there, but not overnight it seemed.

As she said, she went to meet Atsushi at the gates, figuring he was skipping practice again since he only went when Chie went with sweets, if not he went with her to the shop. But before she could make it to the gates, she was grabbed from behind and dragged behind the building.  
Amethyst eyes wide, her screams were muffled as she stared at the gate where the Giant was waiting for her, eyes pleading for help.

None came.

Atsushi was getting more irritated than anything, why was she taking so long? She said she would meet him at the gate, and it had been twenty minutes already….Staring down at the bag of BBQ chips he planned to share with her, unopened and everything, he sighed. "Atsushi? Why are you here, I thought you'd be at the shop with Chie?" Shiori asked as she jogged up to the Titan. "Shi-Chin, why aren't you at practice?" He asked a question as a reply, making her sigh. "Someone said they saw you at the gate so I was hoping maybe you would come to…." She trailed off as a light breeze sent her hair up, silvery blue eyes blinking as she turned and saw Atsushi racing back into the large school. "What the hell?"

He shouldn't have left her; he shouldn't have let her go to the locker alone and he should have gone looking for her a long time ago.  
Sliding to a stop, Atsushi looked at her closed, locked locker with a scowl and grabbed onto the padlock hanging from it. Swiftly, he broke the lock simply by yanking it off with pure strength. And honestly he didn't have to pull that hard….Recalling her previous issues with the locker, he grabbed the door and opened it slightly, jolting from the loud pop and quickly opened her locker to find the purple goo slowly leaking from the locker. "Yuck…" He frowned at the sight, leaving the locker open. He turned around and grabbed a student at their locker, yanking the poor soul over. "Why is there purple goo in Hisoka's locker?" He pointed at it, the boy shaking in fear of the giant's actions. "U-Uh, Hisoka-Chan's been having that problem ever since she turned down Ishiga-Senpai…." The terrified first year gulped. "Please don't hurt me Murasakibara-San I didn't-"Murasakibara cut him off swiftly. "Where's Ishiga?" He nearly growled, his glare sending shivers down the boys spine. "He usually hangs out in the back of the school or the Kendo practice room…."Before the boy could blink the Titan was running down the halls, but the wrong way. "The Kendo room is that way…."  
Really was a bad day to get lost easily.

"Guh…" Her back hit the wall harder than she hoped, and was pretty sure there would be a bruise there and on her stomach from the punch she just got from the sadly stronger male. "This wouldn't be happening if you weren't such a cold bitch Chieko, someone really needs to teach you some respect." Ishiga drawled as he cracked his knuckles, staring down at the girl with that cocky smirk of his that she just wanted to punch right off his face….  
Her stomach hurt so much, she wasn't sure she could stand let alone punch a man in the face. Instead, she prepared to protect her face from his next hit, but instead it was a kick to the gut that sent her tumbling on her side. "Don't have much bite to back up all that bitching, now do you? Well, I think it's time for the final bit of fun before I go home and study for my math test next week." He grinned, reaching down for his pants. Amethyst eyes widened, but before she could scream someone grabbed Ishiga and lifted him right off the ground, the Kendo Captain crying out in surprise. "What the fu-Murasakibara-San!?" He looked nearly ready to cry when he saw the dark look on Atsushi's face, Chie jolting when she saw the deadly, purple aura coming off the Titan. "A-Atsushi…." She whispered, not aware of how crappy she looked. Probably as bad as she felt….

"You hurt Chieko…I'll crush you." He growled, turning him around in his hands to see his angry face. "W-wait Murasakibara-San we can work this out!" Atsushi paused, but his face didn't lose any rage at all. "Let's just share her! I am sure you-"He was stopped by Atsushi's punch to the face, Chie yelping when the body hit the wall beside her, then hit the ground and didn't get up or move. Hesitantly, she checked his pulse and relaxed. Probably just a concussion, she decided quietly before she noticed someone in front of her. "A-Atsushi….?" She blinked at the tall man kneeling in front of her, brows furrowed. "Where did Chie-Chin get hurt?" He asked quietly, the tie-dyed haired girl blinking softly. "My…stomach, mostly…." He didn't say anything in reply, simply lifting her shirt up to look at the dark purple bruises covering her abdomen. He let out a quiet growl, lying her shirt back down before he reached around and touched her back. As soon as he touched her, she hissed in pain and flinched away, Atsushi pulling back quickly. Carefully, he turned her around and lifted her shirt again, seeing the red scratches and black and purple bruises thus making him growl. "It was just from hitting the wall…" Chie mumbled quietly, Atsushi pulling her into his arms slowly. "I'll take you to the nurse's office…." Merely nodding, Chie ignored the ache in her back as he picked her up bridal-style and curled up his warm arms. "I don't want Shiori to see me like this….or my parents…." She mumbled quietly, Atsushi nodding slowly.  
She knew both would worry, and Shiori would blame herself for not being there to help, while her parents would probably cause uproar in the school and she just didn't want to deal with that kind of attention.

"Can I stay with you tonight…?" She asked slowly, Atsushi suddenly stopping in his tracks.  
She looked up at him, the tall man furrowing his brows. "….Girls aren't allowed in the boys dorms though…." So now he obeys the rules after skipping practice so much.  
"Yeah….But no one has to know….I'll just my parents I am staying at Shiori's and Shiori I am sick and not to come over…." She mumbled softly, looking up at him with hopeful amethyst eyes. His own eyes looked away from her, because he couldn't bring himself to say no. "…Okay."

It was hard convincing the nurse that Chie had fallen down the stairs, but she did and Chie got out of having to go to Physical Education for a while so it wasn't all bad. Chie hated that class, because of how tired she always was. The second hardest part was getting Shiori to agree to not come over while she was sick, Chie's reason being she didn't want Shiori sick, and the third hardest part was getting to Atsushi's dorm room unnoticed. In the end, she hid in his side and walked by the wall so no one really noticed since a lot of the people in the school besides the basketball club, avoided the giant.  
She was still trying to wrap her brain around not being able to think of Atsushi as a gentle giant, maybe it started off around the same time he pulled the hoop off his first day of practice….Regardless, she was not prepared for the mess called Murasakibara's room. She'd never seen so many candy and snack wrappers on the floor, or so many pieces of clothing strewn across the floor of a room before in her life, and that giant pile in the middle of the room scared her most of all yet he just walked over it like it was no big deal at all.  
"What the hell kind of tornado hit this room….?" She asked rather bluntly as he put his bag on the desk, looking toward her rather calmly. "I just cleaned this room today." Chie felt herself twitch at the giant as he pouted at her accusation his room was a mess. This was clean for him on most days, some days the piles were ankle deep. If she knew this Chie would probably feint on seeing the room if she thought this was disgusting.  
So, despite the pain in her stomach and back she tossed her bag on the bed, rolled up her uniform sleeves and started cleaning up the floors, leaving that….pile in the middle alone for now. She tossed the dirty laundry in the basket she was sure he could make on his own considering he was one of the Generation of Miracles, but kept that comment to herself. Sadly, she had to do the pile now…It took about 10 minutes to find out there was a Kotatsu underneath the pile.

"…You have a Kotatsu?" She looked at the giant lazing on his bed incredulously, him just giving a nod. "Yes, I do." She sweat dropped considerably, before going on to picking up the trash left behind and tossing it all inside the trash bin in his mini kitchen.  
"You cook a lot?" She asked as Atsushi came into the kitchen, leaning on the counter that sort of separated it from the main room/bedroom. "Every night," he chirped as he went over to the fridge and opened it up. "What does Chie-Chin want to eat tonight?" She felt a little bad for him cooking for her; she was the one imposing on him. "I am not picky….I can cook for you, if you want I mean-"He cut her off with a wave. "Chie-Chin cleaned my room, go rest I will cook dinner tonight." Atsushi heard a quiet sigh before a light tap, and then he looked up to see Chie sitting on the kitchen counter. "Can't I watch?" The giant smiled as a reply, and started pulling things out from the fridge to cook.  
Chie was pretty surprised; she took Murasakibara as the type to be unable to do anything right but Basketball from his rather childish brain. But then again, he was able to find her and save her….And this time he didn't get lost on the way to the nurse's office either. While watching him cooking, she decided to talk to him. "Atsushi, why did you come looking for me?" She asked softly, the giant humming. "Chie-Chin was late, you're never late." He drawled as he cooked what seemed to be a Beef Pot. "How did you find me?" She asked next, the purple haired giant not missing a beat. "I found a purple bomb in your locker, and made someone tell me who did it and where they were." Nodding slowly, Chieko looked down and stayed silent this time.  
"Why didn't you tell us Ishiga-Senpai was still harassing you?" Chieko jolted, looking up and pausing when she was staring into a set of amethyst eyes that matched her own. "…..Didn't wanna worry anyone, everyone's been busy lately….I didn't t think it would get that bad…."Atsushi turned his head back to the Beef Pot slowly. "I will protect Chie-Chin."  
Chieko would not admit she couldn't stop blushing at his words, not even to herself.

Sitting at the Kotatsu and staring at the large beef pot sitting on a little mini-heater caused Chieko to sigh quietly. "This seems….Like a lot of food." She mumbled as Atsushi loaded up a bowl, having skipped the raw egg since neither really wanted it. "For two people, I mean…." She corrected and the Center shrugged. "I can eat all this by myself." Chieko quickly loaded up her bowl so as to avoid being starved from the Giant eating all the food by himself. "You're a monster, you know that?" She asked offhandedly, Atsushi smiling and not at all seeming offended by the comment he'd often heard during his days at Teiko, which wasn't all that long ago really.  
"Will Chie-Chin make sweets for desert?" Chieko blinked slowly at the high school kid, and then glanced away. "Che, thought you didn't want me to cook tonight?" She replied as she took a bite of the oddly…delicious beef. "I never said anything about baking."  
"…..Touché, what ya got?"  
"A lot…." He grinned widely at the tie-dyed haired girl, Chieko merely shaking her head with a smile. "Sounds good…."

In the end, Chieko made two batches of chocolate brownies and two batches of double chocolate chip cookies with purple M&amp;M's, and Atsushi had honestly never looked happier as he ate the cookies under the Kotatsu with Chieko. She wondered though, if he realized spreading his legs out made his feet peek out from the Kotatsu….right beside Chieko's hips. "How have you not eaten your parents out of house and home…?" She mumbled to herself as she took a bite, Atsushi shrugging as he popped another brownie in his mouth. "Dunno." Well, he was in a dorm room instead of home….  
"So I guess I will sleep under the Kotatsu tonight," it felt pretty comfortable to her, and it was warm so it seemed like a good idea. "No, Chie-Chin will sleep on the bed." The bed that was probably three times bigger than herself….King sized for such a large man of course. "No I-""Bed." He almost growled, and Chieko found herself shivering as she recalled back to the punch that left Ishiga not only unconscious, but bleeding pretty bad. "O-Okay…." He seemed to pause, as if looking conflicted, before he seemed to get over it and nod firmly. "Well, do you mind if I borrow a shirt or something to wear….?" Atsushi nodded, pointing to a dresser. "In there," she nodded and got up, looking through before grabbing a shirt that looked like it was a dress on her, and a pair of shorts she was sure she could tie to fit her. She went to the bathroom silently, and when she returned everything was gone. "Damn…." She mumbled as he got up and put the dirty dishes away, and then came back and stared at her.  
The shirt was indeed too big, the collar itself nearly fell off both shoulders but still managed to hang on and fell around her knees. One couldn't even see the shorts she had on underneath, just her soft legs. Catching him staring, Chieko rose a brow but he said nothing and grabbed some clothes before going to the bathroom behind her.

"Weird…." She mumbled before going over to the bed and crawling underneath, aware she had homework but honestly didn't feel like doing it right now. She'd just have to do it before school started in the morning, if she went….  
Soon, the door opened and the light clicked off. Closing her eyes, Chieko curled up under the warm blankets in a ball before tensing when she felt the bed creak and her body nearly slid back as Atsushi settled right behind her. "What are you-"She nearly squeaked when she felt an arm around her waist and her back press up against a very bare, very muscular chest. "Sleeping," he replied against her ear like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "….You're terrible and I doubt you even know it…." She mumbled as his arm slid under her head, making her blink as it was lifted a little.  
So now, his muscular bicep was her pillow, and he was snuggling her by the waist and she was pretty sure he was close to laying his head on her own. She was as tense as a pulled rubber band, heart pounding so hard she felt like it was going to pop sooner or later.  
"Relax Chieko…." She heard him whisper against her ear, his hand gently rubbing her side up and down slowly. The shirt rode up a little with each stroke, but each stroke had her relaxing against her will. Slowly, she stretched her legs out and felt his clothed legs against her bare ones. So, he was probably wearing sweat pants and nothing else….How did the day turn out like this again?  
"That's better…." He mumbled, laying his head against hers and his hand stilled. She could feel and hear him take a deep breath, as if taking in her scent releasing with a soft exhale. In just a moment, he was breathing softly.  
_"…..He fell asleep….Yet here I lie, my heart pounding in my chest so hard he had to have heard it…."  
_Regardless of that, she found herself falling asleep faster than she ever had before, feeling safer in the Giant's arms than in her own bed.  
So much for being an insomniac.


	6. Chapter Five: Study Date?

Shiori wasn't surprised Atsushi had ditched her when she attempted to get him to come to practice without Chieko, but she was surprised at how fast he bolted off without an explanation. But by the time practice was over, she found a text from Chieko saying she'd gotten sick and not to come over that day, it was pretty contagious apparently. She had asked why Atsushi was acting so weird, but Chie said that he was worried and had found her passed out by her locker so he took her home. It was odd to Shiori, because Chieko didn't look like she was sick at all earlier in the day but brushed it off.

If it was a lie, but Shiori was confident that Chieko would tell her eventually, when she was ready.

So after everyone had finished cleaning up and she was finished with her own work, Shiori headed out to return to her dorm since she couldn't go see Chieko as she really had no desire to get sick and miss school and practice. That would suck far too much, she'd literally never missed school before and being able to say that was something Shiori enjoyed greatly but she still hoped Chieko would feel better soon so she wouldn't miss school.  
On the way out, Himuro stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, making the silver eyed girl look up quickly, blinking rapidly at his smile. "How are you doing, Shiori?" He asked softly, as if he knew something was wrong with the Manager. "Oh, I am okay, Chie-Chan texted me apparently she got sick so Murasakibara took her home…." Himuro looked mildly surprised, but nodded slowly as if he now understood why she looked a little upset. "He is quite attached to her." Shiori chuckled softly, nodding as the two started walking together. "Very true…." She mumbled, brushing her pale bangs from her face but they just swung back into place.  
"Shiori, would you like to come over to my dorm and study since you're not going over to Hisoka-San's home to study? I mean, if that's not inappropriate to ask…." He trailed off, the Shooting Guard glancing away with a sheepish smile that made Shiori chuckle softly in amusement. "No, it's alright Tatsuya. That sounds pretty good actually, studying alone is always boring." Shiori quite liked the smile that lit up his face as he led her off to his dorm room; it made her feel quite proud to have made him that happy. She didn't really think much as to why he would be that happy with her coming over, though.

Tatsuya's room was pretty clean, it matched his own personality very well with how everything was neat and tidy-yet there were a few basketball magazines and an actual basketball or two lying around here and there. It wasn't perfect but it was good, probably better than her own she had a habit of leaving her books and paper work out for school and practice out and they tended to fly everywhere when the wind blew through her regularly open window. Nothing too special, he had a bed to fit him and a low table for studying and such, a kitchen connected to the bedroom/living room and a bathroom off to the side beside his dresser. It was pretty comfortable, all in all.

"Hmmm….I kind of miss Chieko's sweets while I study…." Shiori mused as she finished the last page for math, Himuro laughing softly and scratching the back of his head. "Well, while they're probably not as good as Hisoka-San's sweets I am sure I have something sweet for you to snack on." As he got up, Shiori waved her hand. "I was just kidding, it's really okay you don't have to-"She stopped when she saw him ignoring her and going to the kitchen causing the manager to pout softly. "Don't ignore me like that!" She called, but only heard him laughing as he rummaged through the kitchen.  
Soon, he came back with a 24 pack of chocolate chip cookies and sat down beside her at the low table, sitting the cookies down between them. "Here you go, 12 for each of us." Shiori sighed, but smiled and opened it up as she crossed her legs Indian style under the table. "Thanks, Tatsuya." She felt him bump knees with her under the table, making a giggle slip from her lips as she bit into the soft cookie. "My pleasure," he mumbled as he grabbed a cookie and pulled his homework over to his new seat.

24 cookies later, Shiori found herself in the kitchen helping Himuro cook them some dinner up. They were making pizza, something they both loved from their time in America. "Are you sure about this….?" She asked slowly as she watched him juggle two jars, one of mushrooms and one of pickles, while she was holding a package of peperoni and a mayo jar. "Yes, I promise you this will work." He laughed softly at her look of disbelief, but she still nodded and tossed the pack of peperoni at the taller male. He bent his knees a little, grunting quietly but he caught it and quickly balanced himself out as he began juggling the now three items. "H-Holy crap!" She giggled, the Shooting Guard grinning. "Okay, now the mayo." He started juggling them higher, nodding to Shiori who this time tossed it without so much reservation at the basketball lover. He copied his previous movements and caught it, tossing it high up with the rest and for a moment she teetered on the edge of jumping in to catch some of the items-but he quickly smoothed out and was juggling them perfectly. "Told you I could do it," he smiled at her as she giggled, leaning on the counter as she pulled her phone out. "Can I record you?" She asked sweetly, getting a nod with a soft chuckle as she turned on the camera and started recording, narrating with a small grin.  
"Here we have Tatsuya Himuro juggling not one, not two, not three, but four food items flawlessly in his kitchen! Mister Himuro, do you have anything to say to your audience of people that will see this when I post this on YouTube?" Scoffing, and keeping an eye on what he was juggling carefully, the Shooting Guard managed a shrug before replying. "You should have started recording while you tossed the first one at me." Shiori pouted softly. "You suck….Come on, I am hungry lets actually make the pizza now." Agreeing, Tatsuya tossed the pack of peperoni and jar of mayo at Shiori right after, the girl catching both and he caught the first two jars he had in his hands swiftly. Setting them down, they started decorating the pizza in thick cheese, peperoni, mushrooms and some onions and-"I am sorry, are you putting pickles on your side?" Shiori asked in disbelief, while he looked up at her with his usual poker face. "Yes?"  
She blinked slowly, and then looked away. "I don't recall America having that many weird kinds of pizza's…." She mumbled the other blinking curiously. "You've been to America?" Shiori nodded slightly. "Yup, I used to go there for summer vacation when I was younger." She smiled, tilting her head. "I went to LA, my family lived there." Himuro was pretty impressed, and suddenly started speaking in English rather clearly, but that Japanese accent was evident still. **"LA is very hot in the summer time."** Pausing, Shiori laughed and popped a mushroom in her mouth before replying back in a soft, lighter Japanese accent. **"That's why I always wore shorts and a tank top."** She purred, Himuro raising both brows before he smiled and finished with his side of the pizza, Shiori doing the same. "That's very good pronouncement, Shiori." He praised making her blush lightly, but she didn't quite understand why. "Thanks, you're really good too." She mumbled as he put the pizza in to cook.  
In the end, while they waited for the pizza to cook they put in a movie and lazed on the bed together. Even when the pizza finished, they stayed on the bed and ate together contently while watching the first Rurouni Kenshin movie together. "I wonder if he does his own stunts…" Shiori mumbled as she leaned back on the wall beside Himuro, the other shrugging. "It's hard to tell, could slow motion it but I don't wanna get up and get the remote…." Shiori giggled behind her hand, sitting up a little to pull her hair tie out and stuff it in her pocket. Himuro watched her out of the corner of his eye as she ran her hands through her hair, fluffing it up a little and tossing it over her shoulders as she leaned back on the wall and watched the movie in content peace.  
At some point, they ended up lying on their stomachs while they watched the movie, but Shiori couldn't remember falling asleep at all. Himuro did though, noticing she had fallen asleep he let himself fall asleep with one arm tossed over her waist and his head buried in her soft raven locks with a small smile on his usual poker face.  
He'd never slept so well before in his life, she'd never say the same out loud but it was the same for her.

(Now that the next chapter is sitting there unfinished in my Word Document, you're all going to demand for more, I know it-  
This was pretty fun to write though, I played with Himuro's stuff a bit. According to Wiki he likes pickles and juggling, so I decided to put them together o3o  
I wonder what pickles on pizza is like...dunno if he'd actually try it but it would be hilarious if he did xD  
I will work on the next chapter today, there's not a whole lot left to do with it but it will center a lot around Himuro and Shiori again. It'll have some of Atsushi and Chieko still of course.  
The morning afters are always fun.)


	7. Chapter Six: Embarrassment at Its Finest

Chieko woke up before Atsushi did, not too surprising she took him as the type to not want to get up that easily. He probably got up at the last minute, pulled on his clothes and went on to school as he was. His hair always did look messy…..It was kind of a pain in the ass though because Atsushi had a strong grip on her waist when she woke up, it was very….Embarrassing as well. She ended up having to slip out from under his arms while he was holding her waist, which sadly her bust ended up rubbing against his arm despite her attempts to push him off as much as possible. She merely thanked God that he stayed asleep through that despite his unconscious whining.  
While he slept, Chieko took a shower and got dressed into her school uniform before leaving the bathroom. She found Atsushi sitting up in bed, looking half asleep but licking his lips like he was hungry. "Atsushi?" He looked up at her, and she looked away since he still lacked a shirt, as it was hard to keep a straight face with such a muscular, bare chest in front of her like that. "Can Chie-Chin make me breakfast while I shower?" Looking at the clock, he did have time for such a leisurely shower. "….Yeah, sure…." She supposed she owed him at least a few meals before she made up for what he did for her the day before.  
While Atsushi was in the shower, Chieko spent her time making up a very large breakfast, because after seeing him devour just about every last bit of that beef pot the night before, she knew better than to underestimate his ability to eat everything, and she wanted to have some for herself to eat as well and she wouldn't put it past him to try and steal her own food if he was still hungry.

Just about 15 minutes later, Chieko was setting up when she heard footsteps and looked up to see Atsushi standing in the kitchen door way, rubbing his hair dry with a towel-and all he had on was a far too small towel. "Breakfast is ready?" He asked curiously, looking down at the other girl rather calmly despite his undressed state of being.  
"…..GET SOME FUCKING CLOTHES ON YOU OVERGROWN PERVERT!" Chieko hoped Shiori was having a better morning than she was.

It was very wrong to hope for that, Shiori's morning was probably just as bad as Chieko's, maybe more if one takes into account everything that had happened to her.  
First off, she woke up with Himuro nuzzling into her head and basically cuddling her smaller body against his larger one. After that she let out a rather loud scream and fell out of said bed, startling Tatsuya awake and since he was still groggy, he ended up falling out of bed with her and crushing her, and after the awkward untangling came the incredibly awkward apologies and assurances that both were okay, next came the discussions on what would happen next.  
"W-well, I had best get back to my dorm and get some breakfast…." She trailed off, looking around for her hair tie. Himuro quickly spoke up, not yet wanting her to go. "Have breakfast with me, Shiori-Chan." She looked a bit started at his sudden request, but soon she slowly nodded with a small smile. "S-sure…." Honestly she didn't need anything from her dorm room, she just felt so awkward she felt like she needed to go. Since he seemed to want her to stay, she decided to give it a shot. "I like American breakfasts, if you don't mind?"  
"Not at all," she smiled before following him to the kitchen to help cook.

Despite how awkward the morning had started out, later on it got quite a bit better. Mostly, they talked about basketball, but the conversation was pleasant all the same. "I wonder if I can get Chieko to come to practice more, that way Murasakibara-Kun will come more often too…" She mused to herself softly, brows furrowed as she bit into her scrambled eggs. "I don't know if he should, Coach looked ready to kill him when he called her Masa-Chin." The two laughed softly, before they resumed their meal and light conversation.

When they finished Shiori helped with the dishes, and then it was time for Shiori to go. "I have to get a fresh uniform since I slept-"Right as she opened the door, a girl was trying to slip a letter underneath Himuro's door, so when Shiori opened the door, the two were confronted with the sight of another girl bent over trying to stuff the letter under the door. "…..Ah!" She jumped back, looking rather startled. "H-Himuro-Kun, Shinju-San I am s-sorry I-I…" Shiori's face was burning as hard as the girl's, Himuro keeping a calm look as always, but inside he was groaning at the really bad timing. "I-I am sorry to bother you!" She had left the note behind, before running off as fast as possible.  
"….A-ah, I had best get going as well." Shiori spoke, voice forcefully calm and Himuro knew things were going south. "Ah, Shiori-Chan about the letter-"He was cut off by her raising her hand. "It's really no problem Himuro-Kun, you'd best read that letter she was pretty embarrassed so it's not a hard guess to figure out what it entails. See you at Practice." Before he could stop her, she walked off swiftly to the girl's dorms, and Himuro sighed through his nose, lightly tapping his fist against the door way. "Damn it…." He mumbled, before going back into his room with said letter. "And it's back to Himuro; well at least it's Kun and not San…" He mused as she shut the door behind him a little louder than he meant to.

Classes went on without a hitch, and Shiori and Chieko met up on the roof as they always did. "You look good today; sure you're not pushing it?" Shiori asked as she ate, Chieko curling up on the ground with her pillow. "Stomach flu, dad thinks my lunch was crap or something…." Shiori let out a quiet but thoughtful hum before she took a bite of her chicken tempura. "Can I have some?" Shiori quickly looked up, blinking rapidly at the purple haired Giant standing over her. "S-Sure…" Atsushi plucked one of the pieces before he flopped down on the ground beside Chieko, the tie-dyed haired girl lifting her head. "Atsushi, where's Himuro?" She yawned, sitting up. "Down there," he pointed at the fence, but Shiori was the only one to get up and walk over to look.  
Down by the school entrance was Himuro talking to the very same girl from that morning, her face flushed but Himuro had his usual poker face, so it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

"Himuro-Kun is really popular with girls, isn't he?" She asked softly, not expecting an answer. "He had a bunch of love letters in his locker today, and a girl came up to him and asked him out." Atsushi drawled as he took Chieko's pillow and laid it on the fence behind him, lying back on it as he ate. Said girl growled at him before laying her head down on his leg like he wanted. Shiori wasn't even paying them any attention anymore.  
"I see…." She mumbled, finally turning and seeing the pair like that, and blinked slowly. "…." Smiling, she went over to her spot on the other side of Chieko and resumed eating in a peaceful silence.

Not too long before lunch was over, Himuro joined them, chatting with Atsushi mostly, Chieko was asleep and Shiori wasn't really talking. She mostly nodded or gave short answers when Himuro tried to talk to her.  
It all just felt so….different than before. Maybe she was worrying over nothing, Himuro didn't seem the type to take advantage of a girl like that, but at the same time wouldn't that kind of attention eventually go to one's head? Not to mention how much trouble other girls would give Shiori if anything happened. But they had such a good time together…..And he honestly didn't seem like that type of guy, maybe she was just over thinking things….Again.  
"Shiori, I am gonna go to practice today." She was snapped from her thoughts by Chieko's sudden statement, which made her jolt and pull her into a tight hug. "Thank you!"  
Atsushi looked almost as annoyed as a mildly smothered Chieko did, Himuro smiled at the goofy act, but his eyes remained trained on Shiori the whole time, however only Atsushi noticed this.

Shiori's hunch that word would spread fast came true, sadly. Every class she went into after lunch all the girls looked at Shiori with pure hatred in their eyes-Himuro really was popular with the ladies. That shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, he really was handsome and kind….  
Sighing, Shiori merely brushed off all their enraged stares and took a seat, forgetting for a moment that Himuro actually shared this class with her, and was soon sitting next to her. "Are you okay, Shiori-Chan?" He asked softly, startling her a little but she smiled at him slightly. "Yeah, I am okay." She didn't really talk to a lot of the girls in the school besides Chieko, who was currently snoozing on her desk until class began and the teacher shouted her name loudly thus scaring her awake, otherwise she was sure she'd be threatening the lives of the girls glaring daggers at her best friend. Chieko was protective of Shiori, not that she didn't think she couldn't defend herself, she just didn't think she would try very hard verbally.  
"Ah…I am still sorry such a rumor got started, I tried to talk to her before but she wasn't very cooperative with me…." Probably since he rejected her, he wanted to save that for last but she was very insistent on hearing his answer to her letter. "It's really okay; I don't really talk to any of the other girls here besides Chie-Chan. It's not that big of a loss to lose perspective female companionship." She smiled at him lazily, trying to ease the tension. Himuro blinked softly, his expression as calm as usual before he leaned closer, chin resting on his knuckles. "Shiori-Chan, I am going into town later to get some new basketball shoes, would you like to join me?" He asked softly, the silver and black haired girl blinking rapidly. "I don't-""Please?" He cut her off swiftly, but in such a soft voice she had trouble saying no.  
And then the teacher came in, and Shiori quickly collected herself. "I'll wait for your answer after practice." She heard him mumble before getting his textbook out, Shiori doing the same with a slow nod.

Things escalated pretty fast, when Shiori went to the bathroom before another class there was a group of four girls chatting and smoking like chimneys by the stalls. Lovely Christian school, isn't it?  
Ignoring them, Shiori did her business regardless of the smirks and stares sent by the smokers. Coming out she washed her hands, bag lying against her butt to avoid it getting wet, until two were suddenly on either side of her, and Shiori let her silvery eyes close to avoid their stares. "You know Shiori; we never took you as the slutty kinda girl, or the type to be able to get someone like Tatsuya-Kun into bed." Shiori resisted the urge to slap the smiles off their face; instead she moved and dried her hands off with a paper towel.  
They didn't seem to like that because next thing Shiori realized she was being pinned to the wall by one of the larger girls-she remembered her name was Yuriko, Captain of the cross-country team. She had long, strong legs and equally long raven hair, her eyes chocolate brown and narrowed down at her shorter form. She was just barely an inch shorter than Chie; a lot of the guys didn't like her though. She had quite the personality, worse than Chie's because Chie was polite until pissed off. She was just a bitch in general.  
"I hate being ignored…" Yuriko drawled lazily, Shiori's silvery-blue eyes opening slowly and narrowing into her chocolate brown. "Then, I won't ignore you anymore." Before Yuriko could speak again, Shiori's knee slammed into her stomach and the taller woman hunched forward with a loud gasp for air, coughing up some spit but Shiori was only glad it didn't get on her skirt. Grabbing her by the air Shiori then forced her head back up to face her direction, Yuriko looking a little winded by how hard she was hit and where. "Happy? I stopped ignoring you." She threw Yuriko into her two stunned accomplices, smiling calmly. "I dare you to touch me again." With that, she left the bathroom and a very pissed off, but scared Yuriko. Apparently, no one smaller than her ever fought back against her bullying before.  
"Even Christian schools have bullies; I shouldn't be surprised, but still…" She sighed, scratching the back of her neck before hearing her named called.

Turning around Shiori immediately frowned when she saw Coach Masako and Tatsuya walking up to her, she met them half way and then got to see the unusually deep frown on Masako's face. "The Principle has requested to see you two immediately; he will write you a note for your teachers." Shiori cringed and nodded slowly, Masako sending them off together since she had to get to the class she taught.  
On the way there, Himuro only told her one thing. "If they ask, I just invited you over for breakfast early in the morning before school." Shiori only nodded, since it was pretty obvious as to why they were both being asked for by the Principle.

They were let in the room immediately, both sitting across from Principle Takakani, back's straight and face's calm as they both decided to use a Poker Face for this situation. Principle Takakani was getting up there in age, his hair was greying slowly, but it matched well with his already very pale blonde hair. His eyes were a deep blue, and Shiori could tell he had a little American in him. He wore a nice black suit and tie, like most Principle's do.  
He was a good man, never seemed like he was the type to unjustly punish anyone for mistakes they made. Usually he didn't fall for much crap, either.  
"I am sure I don't need to tell you why you're here, but I will anyway." He sighed through his nose, looking out the window for a moment before he stood up and walked around the desk, leaning back on it to get a better view of them. "We have an anonymous tip saying you were leaving Himuro-San's room early this morning, Shinju-San." Before Shiori could speak, Himuro spoke up. "From Natsume-San when she was trying to slip me a love letter under my door before class, which is also a violation of the rules." The Principle paused, before he scratched the back of his neck. "Natsume-San has been let off with a warning because this is her first problem and she hadn't been in Himuro-San's room so I am not as worried….But you Shinju-San…." He trailed off, and Shiori bit her lip. "Sir, Himuro-San invited me over to his room for breakfast this morning, nothing intimate happened we were going over practice schedules together. Being able to challenge Murasakibara-San has been….well, challenging." He sighed softly, Himuro nodding. "I had plans tonight, so we couldn't do it this evening so I invited her over to have breakfast with me while we went over some ideas together. I didn't think it would do any harm, she was against the idea sir I talked her into it. I would like to take full responsibility for this, please." He bowed his head respectfully, and Shiori bit her lip with a look of extreme guilt. "You don't have to..."She stopped when Takakani sighed. "Himuro-San, Shinju-San….You both have excellent grades, and neither of you have ever caused any trouble in this school….Miss Araki also tells me both of you work hard in the basketball club, and taking your situation into consideration Shinju-San, with all this in mind….I am simply going to add on a few more hours on your Volunteer work day." Shiori found it unfair they actually got more than a warning, but was more thankful neither of them were kicked off the basketball club and Himuro didn't seem to think much about what he meant by her situation….  
"Thank you, sir!" They chorused the Principle smiling. "I believe you have classes now, get going before you're much later and here's your note for your teachers" The two got up and bowed as they accepted the letters before then heading out to their separate classes. But Himuro still made sure to hug her loosely before leaving. Shiori blushed, but went on her way without complaint.  
"That was close…." What was that saying? Hell Hath No fury like a woman scorned….in this case rejected. At least it ended up okay in the end.

"I hope practice goes better than the day has been going…." She muttered bitterly, rubbing her temple as she walked down the empty halls quickly.

Practice actually did go really well, as it turns out, Atsushi works incredibly hard despite being so lazy. Naturally he stopped a few times when he wasn't supposed to, to eat some of Chieko's cookies she brought in for him and the rest of the team. Naturally that pissed the coach off, however since he was still working harder than most of everyone else, she let it slide for the time being.

The Coach could tell something was on Shiori's mind though, she didn't help out as much as usual and sometimes Fukui would scare her back to earth when he noticed her spacing out. No one but Himuro and the Coach had an idea as to what was wrong with her. Himuro because he was there, and Masako because the Principle told her why he was requesting the two and as long as it didn't affect the teams playing she didn't care, but she did care because Shiori had grown on her quite a bit. Himuro was playing well though, so she decided for the time being she'd let it slide. At least for today, tomorrow was another story.  
"Gah, Fukui!" Masako sighed as the pale haired Point Guard got hit upside the head with a clipboard again. That was strike number 5. "Ow!" Everyone stopped to laugh at the foolish antics before they resumed practice at the Coach's loud order.  
Shiori sighed, looking toward Chieko who had fallen asleep with her trusty pillow on the bench, a bag of sweets on the ground in front of her for the Giant to pick at when he felt like it. "If only I could be as laid back as you, Chie-Chan…" The manager mumbled to herself softly, scratching the back of her head with a depressed sigh.

Chieko decided she'd be fine with coming to practice more often when she found she could get some extra sleep while they played, Atsushi pouted a little, but beside that left her be. Chieko wasn't sure why she was such an insomniac, ever since she was a child she could never sleep properly according to her parents. When she did….She apparently slept with her eyes open, and though she was certain she no longer did that it was still incredibly disturbing to think about. But also kind of funny when she thought about the faces her mother made when she informed her child of how creepy it was to put a three year old down to bed when she was still staring at her.  
When Coach Araki called for the end of practice, Chieko groaned and got up with a lazy yawn as Shiori came over and grabbed a cookie from the giant's bag while he was in the showers with the rest of the team. "So um, feeling better enough to work tonight?" Shiori asked hesitantly, Chie giving her friend a nod. "Yeah, I feel a lot better today…" She nodded, staring at Shiori blankly as she chewed on a cookie. "Good…Um, would it be okay if I didn't come tonight? I have something I have to do…." She trailed off, and Chieko once more nodded. "Have fun with Himuro-San." Shiori flushed hard. "How did you-""Rumors spread fast, did you two do it?" She cut Shiori off bluntly, the raven and silver haired girl groaning and covering her face. "No….I fell asleep at his place after watching a movie…" She mumbled making Chieko snort. "Not surprising…." She mumbled, getting a playful shove from her best friend as she sat down beside her. "You're mean….So what actually happened last night?" The two stared at each other quietly, before Chieko broke the eye contact and sighed through her nose, shoulders slumping in defeat. "Ishiga tried to…hurt me; Atsushi stepped in and let me stay with him last night…." Seeing Shiori tense and part her lips to speak, she shook her head. "Not how you're thinking, Atsushi stopped him before it got that far. Just bruised up is all…" She drawled, Shiori sighing softly. "I told you, you should have let me teach you at least some self-defense but you had to be lazy." Chieko grumbled, bowing her head slowly. "I think someone is waiting for you." Looking up at her words, Shiori blinked when she saw Murasakibara coming over with damp purple hair, and Himuro casting Shiori a mildly concerned glance before heading out with the rest.  
"Text me later," Shiori finished her cookie before Atsushi made it over and ran out of the gym after Himuro. Chieko sighed, but smiled a little and looked up at the pouting Center. "Ready to go?" She asked softly, grabbing the bag. "Yup," he chirped and the two headed out to the store contently and Chieko silently wished her best friend luck on her date with Himuro.  
At least she was calling it a date.

(Whoop, thanks to those that reviewed (cause I got a new reviewer yipeeee) and to those that favorited/followed my story~ Decided to update a little earlier than planned since I was in a good mood. The next chapter is unwritten, as my next update will be either My Sin is Greed (likely this one) or An Unlikely Deal's sequel, which may not be as long as I thought since I forgot the ideas for it xD Reviews make an author happy and their muse strong~)


	8. Chapter 7: Yes, it was a Date

So Shiori was a little more than nervous to meet up with Tatsuya regardless of how they'd scooted past getting into some major problems, but she still did it. And he was waiting for her, right by the gate with a small frown on his face like he believed he was waiting for no one. Honestly he didn't think she was coming so once he saw her, a smile slipped onto his face.  
"Shiori-Chan, I wasn't sure you were going to come or not…." He trailed off and then scratched the back of his neck softly as she shook her head. "I don't see why not…" She offered him a soft smile despite how shy and nervous it was to the male. "Heh….Come on…." She blushed as he took her hand and willingly followed Himuro to wherever he was taking her.

The walk was filled with silence until they arrived at the shoe shop Himuro wanted to look at, after that they mainly talked about the different kinds of shoes and the differences between them. Strangely, they both liked the same brand of shoes so while they were there Shiori got her a set of women's basketball shoes for practice since she would sometimes help out by showing the other players what they were doing wrong. She used to have a pair, but they were pretty old and didn't fit as well anymore.  
And then he pulled something.

"Let's get dinner, my treat." He didn't give her much of a choice before pulling her into a ramen bar. So she went with it, and got a shrimp ramen while he got beef. She hadn't quite yet noticed that she was talking to him much easier now, the pair even laughing now and then when they talked about their rather eccentric friends. Atsushi and Chieko had given them a sense of abnormality to their lives but as of recently they've been doing it to each other more than them.  
"Do you think Murasakibara-Kun likes Chie-Chan?" Shiori asked curiously and the other merely laughed as he ate a piece of egg. "Yes but I am not so sure he knows that he likes her that way, I think he thinks he likes her like he does his sweets but he can't eat her." Himuro pointed out with a thoughtful hum, Shiori sweat dropping. "At least I hope he knows he can't eat her…." She mumbled quietly but was still heard, eliciting a laugh from Himuro. "I am sure he does, he's actually quite smart." She let out a hum of acknowledgement and then slurped up some of the delicious noodles. "Why can't he act like he's smart?" Himuro shrugged and copied her.

When they finished with dinner, they were heading back to the dorms when Himuro suddenly pulled her into another damn shop. "Billiards?" She questioned when he bought them passes for an hour to play. "Why?" She sighed softly until she was tugged to a table by the rather happy Shooting Guard. "It's a fun game." He said simply, as if that was the only reason he'd need and it was enough to get her to play. "I have homework Himuro-Kun….." She mumbled, the raven haired man frowning slightly as he readied the cue with the chalk piece. "You're very smart Shiori-Chan, I am sure it won't take you long to finish your homework and I doubt it ever has taken you long. Just relax and have some fun, put all the balls in that rack there." He nodded to the triangle shaped plastic rack and Shiori nodded with a soft sigh of defeat before she began doing as he requested of her. "Once you're done set it up in the middle and pull the rack off." Once more, she did as he wanted while he chalked up the second cue stick.

"Good job, have you ever played?" Shaking her head, Himuro smiled and motioned her closer. Hesitantly, she sat her bag down and came over. He moved behind her suddenly, his arms going around her making the young girl blush but she tried to ignore it as he placed her hands on the stick. "Keep one hand back near the end of the cue, use the other to aim like this…" He carefully curled one finger over the cue below the chalked tip. "Now, you want to tap the white ball like this." He put his hand over hers on the back of the cue and jerked it forward lightly and it bumped against the plain white ball. Shiori blinked as it bumped into the triangle of balls and they disbursed instantly. As he pulled away she stood up as well and watched as two actually went into the side pockets. "Two solids, good job Shiori-Chan." Shiori had no idea what that meant, but she assumed it was good. "Thanks." She smiled up at the taller male, before he motioned for her to go again. "When you sink one, you go again until you miss. Aim for another solidi colored one-that means one without a stripe." Shiori blinked and nodded at him softly before then going over to where the white ball had stopped moving. She bit her lip softly and aimed for a ball with one color before striking-a little too hard because it jumped and just kind of rolled to the side.

"….Pfft-"Shiori laid her head down as the Shooting Guard covered his mouth to stifle his laughter.  
"Shut up…." She grumbled, tossing him the cue and standing off to the side as he got settled into the proper position.  
She would not admit she stared at his rather cute butt as he sunk about three balls at once without batting an eye. "Well, at least you didn't pretend to suck and con me out of something." She drawled causing light laughter to slip from his lips. "The thought came to mind, actually." She smacked him on the arm causing him to laugh a little harder before once more sinking another ball. The next shot he missed though, and handed the cue over to Shiori.

The game didn't last another round, her ball smacked into the Eight ball far too early and she lost.  
"…Can we go home now?" Shiori grumbled, bowing her head against the table with a soft thud. Himuro rubbed her back, casting her skirt clad ass rather boldly before he noticed the dart boards set up. "How about we play darts? We can stay for another 45 minutes." Shiori hid how she perked up at the sound of the familiar game and grinned widely. "Sure….Maybe I won't suck as bad, or take out an eye." She gave a fake sigh, sitting the cue down before she wandered over to the dart boards. Himuro followed, rubbing his hidden eye softly. "I am sure you will be fine." He mumbled quietly, but audible enough.

"Let's do a bet this time, I am feeling confident." Despite her words, Shiori faltered when she handled the darts and Himuro kind of doubted she was going to do very well. Though it was dishonorable to say the least, Himuro went for it. "What would you like, Shiori-Chan?" He asked softly, and Shiori managed a smile. "Buy me lunch every day for a week." Himuro's lips twitched, but he nodded.  
"I want a kiss." Shiori's eyes widened slowly before she looked away with a deep blush staining normally pale cheeks. "….Deal…" They shook hands firmly before letting Himuro take the first throw.

30, 60 and 40 making 130 in the first go. Shiori wrote down his score and smiled. "3 rounds sound good to you?" He asked softly as she took his spot next, readying her darts and he noticed that she didn't seem quite as….awkward about it. "That wo-"He froze as she got a bull's-eye on the first throw. The second came 80, then another 80 on the other side of the 100 mark. "….You conned me." He blinked as she wrote down her score of 260. "Did I? I never said I was terrible, I just said maybe I won't suck or take out an eye, nothing about how good I actually was or if I happened to play darts with my uncle every time I went to see him in America for hours on end." She sang happily, Himuro's lips parting wordless before he just shook his head with a sigh. "Amazing…" He mumbled, soon taking her place when she pulled her darts free.  
80, 40 and 60 this time, adding up to a good 180 thus making the total 310 but that was still nothing compared to Shiori's next attack. 100, 100 and another 80 which made the grand total 440. God he was being crushed under foot by this beautiful woman and he loved it for some very strange reason.  
Maybe he just liked a woman that can put him in his place sometimes?

Regardless, by the end of the game Himuro was crushed because he'd slipped and gotten a 10. His score was a measly 400 exactly while hers went up to 680.  
"Lunch is mine!" She cheered; bouncing up and down happily as she did her little victory dance. Himuro could not help but stare before shaking his head and chuckling quietly. "Alright, so lunch is free for how long again?" He laid a hand on his hip, scratching the back of his neck with a small amused smile. "One week!" She flashed a peace sign and Himuro pouted softly. "I am mostly sad I didn't get my kiss."  
Naturally, that silenced Shiori and made her look away and bite her lip softly. "So….lets go…" She turned, but Himuro grabbed her arm and tugged her back into a loose hug. Her head tilted back as he laid his forehead against her shoulder, arms snaking around her waist and back. "A hug will do…." He whispered softly against her shoulder causing a light shiver to trail up her spine swiftly. "A-alright…." She whispered back, letting her arms wrap around his large body. Himuro's eye widened before his hug became tightly making her release a soft squeak in surprise but he only chuckled at that, closing his eyes and smiling brightly.

He pulled away first, his hands lingering on her waist before he slipped his hand in hers and led her out. The girl smiled slightly and followed him willingly with her head bowed low to hide it as much as she could. Of course she couldn't.

"Oh look, an ice cream vendor!" He tugged her off, Shiori rolling her eyes. "Tatsuya!" It slipped without her knowing, but when he stopped suddenly she crashed into his back. Bouncing back he gripped her hand tightly and tugged to stop her. Finally steadying herself, she blinked rapidly and looked up at him to protest but stopped at the look of…happiness in his eyes. "Shiori-Chan…." He said softly, and she waited to see what he was going to say, but in the end he just pulled Shiori to the stand in silence and she didn't question it.

After the ice cream stand thing Himuro FINALLY let her go back home, well to her dorm really. He escorted her there, the two having long since finished devouring their ice cream cones and were still holding hands….she didn't think she would be able to get him to let go if she actually tried to.  
Arriving at the door Shiori's hand was finally freed so she could unlock her door. "Alright, there we go I am home safe, now go home Tatsuya before it gets to-"She turned toward him at the perfect time because she was cut off by a pair of soft lips that belonged to only one man.  
Her eyes widened, body tensed up even as he cupped her cheek and stroked it with his callused thumb. After a moment, her body seemed to unconsciously relax and he moved closer. His arm slid around her waist and pulled Shiori against his muscular body. Her eyes fluttered shut and she began to return the kiss slowly, arms hesitantly wrapping around his neck to pull closer to him. His hand rubbed circles on her back as they kissed slowly, gently, getting used to the other before Tatsuya pulled away and gave a fleeting peck on her cheek. "Good night, Shiori." He whispered gently, before turning and finally leaving.

Shiori stood there for a long 5 minutes before finally turning and going inside. She shut the door behind her, locking it and pulling her phone out. First thing she did was text Chieko.  
_"Yes, it was a Date."  
"Told you so."_

(Lucky Number 7. Sorry this took SO long, I am starting a new job and training is very...interesting and school like xD It will be a while, but my next update will be My Sin is Greed, but I probably wont get started on it until next monday, sorry! Review, sorry for any mistakes didn't check it yet omo )


	9. Chapter 8: First Game

The next day was embarrassing most of all because of how easily Chieko could make Shiori blush, and she knew that so of course she made sure to do it as much as possible. Atsushi seemed rather….confused at how red Shiori got when Chieko mentioned Himuro and voiced his confusion but the poor sweet loving giant was totally clueless.  
Shiori just wanted to worry about the practice match with the team from the district just to the east of their own. But no one wanted to give her that chance, Tatsuya especially.

"Shiori-Chan." Hearing her name said girl looked up just in time for a pair of lips to press against her own briefly before pulling away. Her face turned bright red and a rather amused smile slipped onto the young man's face. "No one saw." Shiori blinked and looked around the hallway, seeing it was empty made her relax some. "T-Tatsuya don't scare me like that again…" She mumbled and that elicited a soft chuckle from him before his arm slipped around her slender waist. "My apologies, but I can't remember when we're leaving for that practice match so I came to ask for the time again." He requested softly and the girl rolled her eyes softly. "4:30, if you're late Araki-Sensei will get very angry with you." And her anger usually led to a wood sword to the face. Not pleasant.  
"Ah, true. Thanks for reminding me." He pecked Shiori's lips once more and the young manager squeaked as he jogged off to avoid her smacking him with a text book. "Tatsuya!"  
All she got was him laughing at her softly.

Atsushi was still following Chieko around like her own personal body guard-one that demanded sweets as payment for his unwanted services. While she was sure no one would bother her again, Atsushi didn't give a damn and continued to keep as close an eye on her as he could.  
It wasn't that she wasn't grateful it was just….creepy and mildly annoying. Well, really annoying because she wasn't quite used to having a shadow looming over her all day.

"Okay, I am going to see Shiori you don't have to-"She froze when she saw Himuro plant a kiss on Shiori's lips and even Atsushi looked surprised. "Well, he certainly got close to her fast." She drawled before grabbing the purple giant's hand and pulled him behind the corner quickly. "Why did Muro-Chin-"He was cut off by Chieko's hand slapping over his mouth, making the rest sound muffled and he resisted the urge to lick her hand because he knew that would upset her, and upset Chieko usually led to a lack of treats from her too. "Shhh…." She put a finger to her lips and removed her hand at last, getting a slow nod from Atsushi before the two started discretely watching them interact. They couldn't hear what was being said at all, but Chieko was quite aware of how close they were. "I knew it they're dating finally…." Chieko whispered quietly, Atsushi looking down at her and blinking softly. "Dating?" Chieko was not surprised he didn't know anything about such a social activity, he didn't seem the type to know much about romantics.

Except for teasing, of course.  
"It's when a guy and a girl that really like each other, do things with each other like going out to eat, playing games, and uh…."She blushed, seeing Himuro give Shiori a parting kiss before leaving. "Kiss…." Atsushi blinked and looked down at her again for more of an explanation than that. "Y-Ya know…Boyfriend girlfriend stuff?" She offered up and he nodded slowly. "Oooh yeah, that." He chirped, crossing his arms across his chest lazily. "So Muro-Chin and Shi-Chin are dating?" So he wasn't so dumb when it came to that kind of thing. "Exactly." She nodded, not aware they weren't officially dating, at least in the sense of the other asking the other to be theirs. It was more of something that just happened than anything. "Huh…." He mused softly, watching Shiori before Chieko fixed her bag strap unconsciously. "Come on, let's get to class." She started walking, and Atsushi followed. "Chie-Chin, you're coming to the game, aren't you?" He suddenly asked the smaller girl and got a nod from Chieko right after. "Yes."  
Somehow, that really quite pleased him.

Despite having to go to the other teams school, Chieko was allowed to sit on the bench and watch because Shiori called her an assistant manager which she only got away with it under Masako's guide because Chieko is one of the few people that can get Atsushi to stay somewhat in line. And by in line they mean half way willing to practice and participate in games. Like today, thankfully.

Everyone was looking forward to seeing how Atsushi did in this game, especially Shiori. They'd all been working hard on their two new aces, Himuro and Murasakibara, in terms of team work. Now Atsushi really wasn't good at team work, but Himuro managed to work that in with his own way of playing, so it worked out. Today, they would test it out.

Shiori could easily tell the other team was nervous as fuck; they were eyeing the giants of Yosen warily as Masako gave them a speech/scolding (to Atsushi) about giving it their all and not underestimating their opponent and all. Though, then she surprised Shiori at what she said next.  
"Today, Shiori will be running the game so listen to her." The black and silver haired girl squeaked softly but thankfully didn't notice Himuro's look of amusement, as she was too busy squirming under their tall Captain's gaze. "Oh….Um…." She swallowed, before Chieko smacked her on the back and that seemed to snap her out of her stupor. "Yes! Right, Murasakibara-Kun will jump for the ball, and then please pass it off to Fukui-Kun." The silver haired man was mildly peeved she didn't use his first name, but said nothing about it since Atsushi pissed him off within four seconds of Shiori's instructions. "But Shi-Chin, why do I have to do it...?" He whined, scratching the back of his neck unconsciously. Rolling her eyes Chieko walked up to him and smacked the back of his head after leaning up on her tip-toes. "Because you're freakishly tall and you'd barely have to jump to catch the damn thing." Shiori cast her friend a grateful smile, because then Atsushi nodded. "Okay." However, Shiori had to giggle when he cast Chieko such a childishly irritated glare before nodding to Shiori.  
With that, Shiori continued with her instruction and the game began.

So, it didn't start off as planned. As soon as he jumped, the ref blew the whistle because he'd caught it before it reached the proper height. "I should have expected this…" Shiori groaned quietly while Chieko slowly pulled her face from her palm, eye twitching as Murasakibara scratched his neck. "Sorry, sorry~" He sang almost sarcastically but that didn't please his teammates anymore. "Be careful, Atsushi." Himuro chided softly as Fukui tossed the ball back to the ref. "Could have sworn I threw it hard enough…" Himuro heard the ref murmur to himself before readying the ball again.  
This time, much to the other team's horror, Atsushi didn't jump until a few seconds after the other guy did and he still caught the ball faster than the other did. Shiori did a small victory fist bump with Chieko when the giant tossed the ball to Fukui.  
Instantly Fukui threw the ball high toward the other teams goal, and of course they chased it but it landed right in the already ahead of them Himuro. Jumping, Himuro threw the ball and it slipped right into the basket. "Nice job!" Shiori called happily but blushed softly when Himuro flashed her one of those handsome smiles. Sadly, Chieko saw it before she could hide it. "Not a word." Shiori mumbled and Chieko respected that since Masako was right beside them.

Now, Shiori ordered them to give Murasakibara or Himuro the ball as much as possible, they all wanted to test the newest team members skills and so far….it was going very, very well. "So this is what happens when we put Atsushi on offense…" Chieko said slowly, Shiori nodding silently.  
Atsushi caught the ball from Fukui easily, two out five members on the team coming in to block him but he was able to easily throw the ball over their heads. Himuro jumped in and at the last second, slammed in a buzzer beater as the first quarter ended.  
Both girls looked at the scoreboard, both gaping in shock. "8 to 67…we're the 67, right?" Chieko asked Shiori slowly and got an equally slow nod in return as the team returned from the game. "You're all doing well." Masako said simply as they sat down, and Chieko and Shiori got up and gave everyone water bottles and towels with the other bench warmers.

"Thank you." Himuro smiled up at Shiori, eliciting a cute blush from the girl before she quickly nodded. "You did well…." She whispered softly before picking up her clipboard. "I think we're doing well beyond well, it's mostly the new kids doing our work it's so boring." Fukui scoffed as Wei Liu rolled his eyes but took a drink of his water. "Alright, then you can do some work for the time being. Atsushi you guard our inside, Himuro you're still on offense of course but Fukui focus your passes on Okamura and Wei for now." Said two players glared at Fukui who shrunk down some. "Yes Ma'am." The team laughed, but Atsushi just looked happy to not have to run around so much, and bit into a banana provided by Chieko. "Eh, this isn't sweet." He whined and looked up at Chieko. "Don't let a single ball pass you and I'll make you Mochi tonight." That made him smile. "Okay~" She'd already bribed him with candy to play offense, but that was ready for him and waiting back at her shop.

Wei Liu was rubbing the back of his neck with a look of discontent, and Shiori noticed so she went up to him. "Is your next bothering you?" He gave a quiet nod before sighing through his nose. "Yes, I jerked a little too fast during the game and its giving me a headache…." He sighed, looking a little irritated but holding it in. Smiling, Shiori jumped over the bench and moved behind him. "I'll rub it; it would be a bad idea to play like this." She chirped and rolled up her jacket's sleeves before brushing his hands away from his neck.  
Wei Liu blinked rapidly as she started on his neck, feeling her lightly callused fingers massaged his neck rather well. Feeling himself relax Wei closed his grey eyes and leaned back against her unconsciously. "Better?" Shiori asked happily and got a nod in return. "Yes, very thank you…" He murmured before the Chinese felt eyes on him. Opening his own he looked over and noticed Himuro was watching him _very_ intently and felt a shiver go down his spine. "Wei, are you okay you shivered just now?" Shiori asked, clear worry in her tone and Wei thought she was such a sweetie-while Himuro was rather scary despite how calm his expression seemed to be. "O-Oh, yes I am okay…I am feeling much better do you don't need to continue." The young girl blinked but nodded and pulled away. "Good, if you still feel like you need more let me know!" She chirped and waltzed over to the Coach. "I think we're all set now." She informed the coach, and got a nod in return. "Good, because it's time."

The next quarter began and Atsushi was standing under the basket, looking as bored as he always did but perhaps a bit more content than he was before now that he didn't have to run around as much. As expected, the ball was passed off to Fukui but instead of sending it to Himuro he sent it to Okamura, the Captain was finally going to have some fun.  
Shiori had to give the other team some credit though, they were trying their hardest to keep him from making that goal but Okamura was plowing right through them before slamming the ball in the hoop with a loud moral raising cry.

"Good job Captain!" Shiori called when he landed on his feet, the large man grinning back at her before shouting some orders to the team. Himuro glanced over at Shiori before looking to Fukui for the ball, he'd got it from Wei who stole it from the other team, hands up and so he got the ball from him easily. "Nice pass." He told Fukui softly before turning and stopping in front of a guard with a calm smile. "Excuse me." The girls watched as he moved forward but the guard moved in front of him-or what they thought was him, suddenly that picture of him faded and he was rushing past the guard on the other side. "W-what was that?" Chieko asked in surprise but Shiori wasn't sure. "….A perfect Fake?" She asked more than replied to the tie-dyed haired girl. "Whoa…." She muttered softly to herself as Himuro got to the three point line, but as he moved to make the shot the other team's Captain jumped in front of him with his arm up high. "You're not getting through!" He roared but Himuro looked un-phased. "Yes I am." He threw the ball, and more than just the girls watched in awe as the ball passed through the Captain's hand like some sort of illusion. In the blink of an eye the ball swiftly went through the hoop behind him and the point gap wider in Yosen's favor.

It wasn't until the Third quarter that they broke the other team's hope of winning.  
Through the last Quarter they'd managed to keep the ball mostly to themselves, if not they stole it back before they got to the hoop. But this time the teams Power Forward managed to get through them, and was charging Atsushi who was standing there looking about ready to fall asleep.  
Their Captain was tall, they'd give him that much, but he stood no chance against Atsushi's own height. He jumped, roaring loudly and raising his teams hope for their Captain's success-but to no avail. Seconds before his ball went through, Atsushi's hand smacked it out of his hand and right into Fukui's hands which then led it to Wei's and the dumb struck team watched as he simply used a swift hook shot to get it in.

After that, Shiori felt bad for the other team, their heart didn't seem quite as in it as they did before. Mostly because every time they tried to make a shot Atsushi would smack it down, he didn't even stop to yawn before blocking them. The end of the game came with a startling difference in points, 8 to 92.  
Shiori was excited for the Inter High Cup to say the least; she had honestly high hopes for victory this year with their Double Aces, Atsushi Murasakibara and Tatsuya Himuro.

Chieko watched them bow with mild amusement because Atsushi could only bow a little or else he'd bump heads with the other players, each giving their gratitude for the game in tune but it was easy to tell Atsushi's drawl from the others voices. Afterwards, they left after a short conversation between the two Coaches' and they got into the Buss's, ready to go home and wash the sweat off their tired bodies.  
The girls sat together near the back of the Buss with Atsushi, who had gotten Chieko to relinquish the rest of her snacks to him for doing such a good job and being more or less obedient. Shiori had written down some notes during the game, mostly things they needed to work on though, which wasn't really a whole lot mostly Atsushi's teamwork was not as good as she hoped.  
Sighing through her nose softly, she glanced over at the large boy beside Chieko munching away before letting her gaze drift to the left. Shiori felt her cheeks warm when she saw Himuro sitting across the aisle from her, casually chatting with another team member about how the game went. Sadly though, before she looked away Himuro noticed her staring and turned to give her that handsome but calm smile that made her heart flutter in her chest. Quickly, she looked away to hide her deepening blush and missed the amused glint in his visible eye. Chieko didn't miss it; though her face remained blank she was quite happy for her friend.  
All of them didn't notice that Atsushi saw it as well, but he looked more confused than anything.

As soon as they got back to the school everyone went home to shower and do the day's homework, except for Atsushi who planned to go to Chieko's shop until closing time, and Himuro who was making Shiori let him walk her back to her dorm room.

It was silent and awkward, but comfortable at the same time. She liked being with Himuro, but her rather easily flustered personality (at least when it came to romantic situations) made it a bit more difficult than she liked. Himuro seemed totally fine walking beside her, hands in his pockets and bag tossed over his shoulder. His eyes didn't linger down on her at all; he merely kept looking straight ahead as they walked down the large hallway.  
Finally, she broke the silence. "Um….How did you do that shot and those fakes? No one could really see you all that well…" She trailed off, too nervous to form words properly. "Back when I was in America, a former WNBA player was my teacher. There, with her, I perfected my Mirage Shot and Fakes. It wasn't easy but now they come naturally to me." He replied back softly and Shiori looked at him with wide silvery eyes. "WMBA? Wow, that's amazing she must be good." She commented, mostly to herself, softly and smiled. "Alex is an amazing player." He nodded his agreement before suddenly stopping, making Shiori do the same in confusion until she noticed they were at her dorm. "Oh, right I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled up at him softly and got one in return. "Of course, good night Shiori-Chan." She was prepared for another good night kiss, but he turned and walked past her without one.

For a moment, Shiori hesitated because for some reason she missed the feel of his lips on hers, before turning around quickly. "Tatsu-"She was cut off by the feeling of familiar lips against her own, eyes going wide when she noticed Tatsuya right in front of her. Slowly though, she closed her eyes and returned the kiss lightly. Boldly he cupped her cheek and for the last few seconds deepened the kiss before pulling away. "Almost forgot….Would you like to go out with me tomorrow night, Shiori-Chan?" He asked in a quiet whisper, face a mere inch from her own and he continued to stroke her cheek with his thumb.  
Shiori was a little dazed from the heart melting kiss, but she still managed a nod before he pulled away. "Good, after practice work for you?" He asked her with a cheerful smile, and she nodded again. "Okay, good night once more Shiori-Chan." With those words, he turned and left her alone in the hall. Blinking slowly, she brushed her dyed bangs from her face with a quiet gulp and slipped inside her bedroom. She was just thankful no one saw that, plenty of girls already despised her for being so close to Tatsuya.

But someone had seen them together, that purple haired giant that suddenly wondered if Chieko's lips would taste as sweet as her sweets did. The thought made him lick his lips before he decided to talk to Himuro about his feelings-maybe Himuro liked kissing Shiori because she tasted so sweet, if that were the case than maybe Chieko would taste sweet when kissed.  
So the Titan walked off to Himuro's dorm room but of course getting lost made the trip last longer than expected, but he made it in the end.  
Chieko was in for a surprise.


	10. Chapter 9: First Kiss

When someone knocked on Himuro's door, he really had thought it was Shiori. Or at least, he was really hoping it was. Instead it was Atsushi standing at his door looking like a lost puppy. "Your room is too far away from mine…." He muttered before pretty much inviting himself in. "Hello to you too." Still, he smiled and closed the door before walking into his bedroom/living room and taking a seat at the table as Atsushi had already taken to doing the same. "Hey Muro-Chin, does Shi-Chin taste sweet when you kiss her?" It took a lot of things to break Himuro's calm façade; this was not one of them. "Yes she does, at least to me….." He hummed, looking almost thoughtful while he recalled back to those brief but nice kisses they shared together.  
At the answer he hoped for, Atsushi seemed to smile just a bit. "Atsushi, if you try and kiss Shiori-Chan you will never be able to eat another sweet again when I knock your teeth out." Even Atsushi was scared of the rather satanic smile Himuro had on, looking as cheerful as can be while putting off such a dark aura. "S-Scary….No, no, no, no, I don't wanna kiss Shi-Chin I wanna see if Chie-Chin tastes as sweet as her sweets." At the childlike innocence to his words, Himuro had a hard time believing he was talking about kissing Chieko.  
"Atsushi….I don't think-….Actually, I think that is a good idea. I am sure you would like kissing Hisoka-San." He quickly corrected himself with a calm smile and as expected Atsushi seemed quite satisfied with that. "Okay, bye bye Muro-Chin." With that, he stood up and waltzed right out of Himuro's room.  
"Well, that was fast but okay then." Himuro shrugged before casually checking his phone and noticed a text from Shiori.  
_Um….I am not sure what to wear…._  
She really was so cute.

"Chieko, do you want any leftovers from dinner?" Chieko heard her mother call from downstairs, the tie-dyed haired girl sighing as she worked through her homework on her soft comfy bed in her pajamas, which were just blue baggy pants with Chibi sweets decorating them and a matching tank top with a little lace. Regardless of seeming like such a tomboy in personality, Chieko sometimes liked to wear girly things. It was considerably different than with Shiori, who seemed like such a girly girl, she much preferred wearing jeans and an old t-Shirt. Direct opposites that were best friends.  
"No thanks!" She called back down to her mother through the door, loud enough to be heard but not annoyingly so.

Honestly at this point she'd already gone through her homework, she was just double checking because she couldn't get to sleep. Chieko and her parents had all thought about getting sleep medication or herbal remedies, but herbs tasted like shit no matter what you did with them and medications came with nasty side effects no one really wanted to deal with.

However, Chieko was broken from her work when a pebble hit her window. "What the hell….?" Right now, she felt like this was something out of a manga her mother used to read Chieko in Middle School. Blinking slowly when another one hit her window, she finally got up and wandered over and opened up the window right as whoever threw another pebble. Getting hit in the mouth made the girl curse and cover up her lips, glaring down at the giant standing at the side of her house/business. "What the hell was that for!?" She hissed down at the purple haired man and merely got a shrug in reply. "The store was closed no one answered when I knocked." He finally said after a minute of thought. "Because we're CLOSED and school curfew ended a while ago!" She snapped and rubbed her face when the Center scratched his cheek almost sheepishly. "Yeah….I am gonna stay over."  
"Don't decide things for yourself!"

Yet, in the end she let Atsushi in her house and finally introduced him to her parents. "This is Atsushi Murasakibara; he's on the school's basketball team I told you guys about him…." Chieko said dryly, looking about as pleased as her father did. "Hello." Atsushi bowed slightly, not much because if he did he might bump heads with someone. "Hello…." Chieko's mother, Chizuko Hisoka, couldn't help but gape at how very tall the first year was.  
Atsushi was more surprised at how much Chieko resembled her mother. Chizuko had long raven hair tied back in a tight pony tail like Chieko's was, long jaw length raven bangs tucked behind her diamond pierced ears. Though, her face looked like Chieko's her eyes weren't the same pretty purple color, they were dark blue like Aomine's hair (at least Atsushi would make that comparison others would just say dark blue) but there was two things that caught Atsushi's eye most. Her height and the size of her boobs.  
She was a Double D size plus she stood at 6'5" and honestly didn't have to crane her neck that much to look up at him.  
Her dad kind of scared him though, he wasn't as tall as his wife by a mere two inches but he was muscular, thick arms but not overly thick like he was on steroids but he was tanned lightly and had a pair of piercing amethyst eyes that reminded him of Chieko. His hair was a thick messy raven that fell into his eyes loosely but not enough to block his vision. Atsushi wished it had.  
"Mm…My name is Rikuto Hisoka; this is my wife Chizuko…." He introduced slowly, having to actually crane his neck up some to look up at the purple haired man. "Atsushi kind of got lost and ended up here….If he goes to school now; he will get in trouble since curfew is over….So he was hoping to be able to sleep in our guest room…." Chieko said just as slowly and looked up at Atsushi mildly calmly. Mildly, this was still irritating. "Well….I suppose one night would be fine…But in return you must help Chieko in the shop tomorrow, alright?" Chizuko smiled up at Atsushi, seeming more used to his size now. "Alright." He agreed without complaint and that surprised Chieko more.

"Right….Um, I am just gonna take him to my room and help with the work I am sure he hasn't done yet." Atsushi blinked a she was suddenly tugged along, but missed Rikuto's look of irritation. "You better-"He was cut off by his wife covering his mouth with her hand. "Now honey, Chieko has never brought home a boy let's not be so overprotective for once, besides this boy seems far too innocent and Chieko is far too much like you to let anything happen." Rikuto made a grumbling sound and Chizuko took that as his agreement, so she took him off to their bedroom for the night.

Atsushi liked Chieko's room for more reasons than it had cookies sitting on her desk; it also had a really big bed that actually fit them both with no problems. They probably expected her to get as tall as Chizuko so they grabbed a King sized bed for her instead of a more normal twin sized like most girls her age. He certainly loved how soft it was when he sat down on it.  
Looking around he blinked lazy purple eyes at his surroundings as he inspected them. Sky blue painted walls, a silvery vanity with probably every tool or accessory for a girl's hair possible beside a door to either the bathroom or walk in closet. One or the other, there were 2 doors besides the one that led out into the hall. She also had a desk by the window, but it looked mostly unused from the lack of anything on it but that plate of cookies and a small desk lamp.

Then Atsushi noticed the well-kept flowers out on the windowsill, something he hadn't noticed when he was throwing stones at her window to get her attention. "Chie-Chin likes flowers?" He asked while she cleaned up the bed some. "Hm? Yeah they're easy to take care of too…." She mumbled softly before glancing at the assortment of flowers, she'd gotten a mixed pack of seeds so she got several different kinds growing all at once. "Oh…." He said simply, then pulled out a chip from his bag and bit into it. "Come on; let's get started on your homework." She snatched the bag from him and got a glare in return. "If you're going to eat while you work, I don't care but sit at the desk I don't want you getting crumbs on my bed." She ordered firmly, and slowly he stopped glaring to take the bag back-but he sat it down on the nightstand. "Bed is comfy….." He informed her when she looked at him strangely. "Right…."

So it turns out Murasakibara is just like Chieko, totally lazy and hates doing the work but apparently and really surprising intelligent, his best and favorite subject was _physics_ for God's sake. She would never think he was a dumb ass again….Until he ends up pouting about getting more sweets again, then she'd likely end up thinking it again. "Okay….So we're all good…" She said slowly as she stared down at his work in almost awe. Maybe she needed him to tutor her and not the other way around….  
"Chie-Chin, I wanna to try your sweets." He suddenly said as she put all their work away into his bag and then her own. "You already have, you've pretty much had every single kind of sweet I've ever made." She replied back in a lazy drawl, not really noticing how intently he was watching her. "Noooo….A different kind of sweet, I want to see if Chie-Chin is as sweet as the sweets you make."  
Well, that confused her quite a bit so she turned toward him quickly to scold him about cannibalism-yet before she could his large hand was cupping the entire right side of her face. "Atsu-"The lips against her own silenced her, as well as made her heart pound against her ribcage.

_W-why is he…?_ She questioned silently, her amethyst eyes wide as they could go and her cheeks burning under his gentle touch. Slowly though, he pulled away from her lips but remained inches away from her flushed face. "Sweet….Really sweet." Addicting even, he couldn't keep himself from pressing their lips together again, but harder. Letting out a muffled sound Chieko decided to just screw it and go with it, he probably didn't even know what he was doing but he was doing a damn good job of it.  
Grabbing his sleeves tightly she returned the kiss just as hard as he was giving it and he responded in kind by pulling her hair free from its tie and running his hand through it as he kissed her so feverishly her head tilted back into his hand from the force of it.  
Opening her lips for him his tongue slithered in her mouth and explored leisurely before tangling with her own tongue, the two unable to help but moan at the rather hot sensation. She could feel his hand moving from the side of her face to her waist and grip the side of her tight shirt and tug her closer. She pushed closer and pressed up against his large toned body and let out a soft mewl when his hand moved down and cupped her ass in his palm.

Though, that finally snapped her out of it and Atsushi found himself pushed off with surprising strength that sent him sprawling on the bed. Blinking, Atsushi looked up at Chieko and licked his lips at her flushed face, kiss-swollen lips, panting and disheveled appearance in general. It was…really hot.  
But she also looked a little scared, and that overwrote the lust he felt immediately. "Chie-Chin?" He asked as he sat up, brows furrowed in concern.  
That snapped her out of it because her breathing quickly evened out and she jumped off the bed. "It's late, go to bed." She pulled out spare blankets and pillows as he stood up and then shoved them in his arms along with his bag of chips and pushed him out of her room hurriedly. "B-But Chie-Chin!" He tried protesting but she had him out the door and down the hall to the guest room in no time. "Good night Murasakibara-San." His eyes widened at the use of his last name but as he once more tried to speak she slammed the door shut in his face. He hadn't even noticed he'd been dropped in the spare room-it was odd how it looked like it was made for two, one small bed and one medium sized bed, a desk and bookshelf set up, like two people used to stay here….

Looking at the door, he walked to it and pushed it open, looking down the hall and finding that Chieko was already gone. "Chie-Chin….What if you can't sleep again…." He whispered sadly before closing the door and setting up on the medium sized bed-it didn't fit him, but it fit him better than the small child's bed.  
Atsushi went to sleep frowning and missing Chieko's warmth by his side, and his legs hanging over the end of the bed. Being a Giant sucked sometimes.

Chieko flopped down on her bed face first to muffle her scream, smacking her pillow furiously before it slowly died down and she rolled over, panting heavily. "W-What the fuck man…." She bit her lip, and then covered her mouth entirely. "M-My first….My First Kiss….Damn you Atsushi…."

It was both their First Kiss's, and both had to admit it was quite amazing.

(Mwahahahahaha, enjoy~  
I've been requested for the other team members to have pairings as well, even for Okamura o-o I will work on some characters for them. Next is My Sin is Greed~  
I'd love to hear some more love for my story. :3 )


	11. Chapter10:There's a First for Everything

Chieko woke up painfully early with maybe 4 hours of sleep, more than usual but not enough needed to handle the day without being a grump, worse part of it was….it snowed.  
Snow in Akita sucked because it looked like Hell frozen over, there was about 5 and a half feet of snow being shoveled out of the way of the walk-way to the thankfully plowed streets by her father. "Come on…really?" She sighed at the frosty window, rubbing it with her blanket before flopping back down on the soft surface. "I hate walking in this shit…."

The morning routine was a shower and then helping Chieko's mother with breakfast, when she got down there though she learned that Atsushi had gone outside to help her father shovel. Was he trying to get on her scary fathers good side? She wasn't sure, and then her mother added in that her dear father scared him into it. For Atsushi, no food was hell and he said no food until the side walk was clear for his darling daughter.  
She really hated it when he called her that.

"I am more surprised he actually thought he'd not let him have any food." Chizuko said with a soft laugh and earned a sigh from her daughter. "I'll go get the idiots…" Before she could leave the kitchen though her mother stopped her by calling her name, Chieko then turned to her with a frown. "What?"  
"…We heard some odd sounds coming from the hall last night, your father wanted to check on you but I stopped him….You used protection, right?" If it were possible, Chieko's face turned 50 shades of red before settling on _Someone Kill Me_ red. "We did NOT do that!" She rushed out without even bothering with her coat and instantly regretted having not yet put on even her uniform thigh high socks. "Fuck, dad Atsushi inside now breakfast is ready!" She called out to the two males and Atsushi lifted his head quickly. "Food?" He looked to Rikuto, as if asking for permission, and got it with a simple sigh and nod. He hadn't expected Atsushi to believe him either.

With that Chieko bolted inside and the two larger men followed her inside, shedding their winter wear before joining them for a sadly quiet and awkward meal-maybe not entirely quiet though since the sound of Atsushi devouring Chizuko's apparently delicious food resonated in the kitchen very clearly.  
Chieko just kept her head down and avoided eye contact with her parents.

When it was finally time to go Chieko said goodbye to her parents with brief hugs before going out into the cold with the purple haired giant.  
The walk itself was peacefully silent, but Chieko was more focused on the slippery ground beneath her feet than the incident from the previous evening. As for Atsushi, he was just munching on some chips that survived his stay at Chieko's home. Neither really intended to break the silence, mostly because neither of them would know how to. Atsushi felt like he should, that he should talk to Chieko about what happened, but at the same time it seemed like too much of a pain to do that. He'd talk to Himuro about it later, he'd likely be less violent about what happened as he was half worried Chieko would slap him or refuse to make any more treats for him anymore. That would truly be a sad day for the sweet lover.

In the end, they made it to school in silence and Chieko was silently praising herself for not slipping in her school shoes. However, as soon as they stepped through the gate Chieko let out a loud yelp as she slipped on the ice and fell forward, but she fell right into a muscular arm that held her up off the cold icy ground. Blinking, Chieko lifted her head and looked into a pair of perpetually bored amethyst eyes. "Chi-Chin needs to keep a better eye out for slippery ice patches." He said simply, a very slight childish grin creeping on his face. Face burning, the tall yet shorter girl glared up at him before jerking out of his grip and taking a step back. "I would have caught myself!" With that, she stormed off into the school building leaving Atsushi a little stumped. He thought teasing her would have been a good way to lighten the mood some; instead she got even angrier?  
Maybe he needed to talk to Shiori, not Himuro.

"Because of her insomnia, Chie is very easily angered so teasing her is a very delicate process. It can't be about anything too embarrassing, and you can't go with it too long or she'll snap. She's very grumpy during the day." Shiori informed Atsushi as they walked to class, Himuro following alongside them. Because of the rather defensive fan girls he had, Himuro had taken to walking Shiori to each class to make sure she stayed safe regardless of the girl's protests. Well, it would only get worse if he found out about those girls in the bathroom she'd have no way whatsoever to fight back against his protective nature.  
"Oooh…yeah…that makes sense…." Atsushi said slowly, and then blinked as if suddenly noticing something. "Muro-Chin, don't you have math right now? Why are you walking Shi-Chin to biology?" He asked curiously, cocking his head down at the smaller male with the most disinterested look one could have. Hearing that, Shiori twitched. "You said you had free period now…." Through all this, Himuro managed to smile despite the obvious warning tone to Shiori's voice. "Biology is on the way to Math." He answered and casually glanced out the window. "What a lovely snow storm."  
"Don't change the subject!"  
Atsushi then decided to leave the love birds to quarrel in their own way.

Atsushi was going to talk to her during practice, yet when he came out of the locker room; it wasn't Chieko standing beside Shiori, but some other girl.  
She was short, standing at maybe 4'8" with short raven hair that fell a little past her shoulders but didn't even make it to her shoulder blades. On the right side Atsushi could see her hair had been braided with emerald beads yet her eyes were a shade of pink that reminded Atsushi of bubblegum. She looked rather out of place, surrounded by tall basketball players. "Ah? Where's Hisoka-Chan?" Captain Okamura muttered but Atsushi didn't seem to care as he stalked up to them. "Where's Chie-Chin Shi-Chin?" Atsushi asked firmly, the smaller girl jolting a bit at his impressive height. "Ah, Murasakibara-Kun….Chie said she had to help out at the shop so she went home early." Shiori informed him as the rest of the regulars went up to the trio. Atsushi seemed a little disgruntled over the news from his furrowed brows, but silently he turned and walked off to join practice.

Okamura was about to do the same until a small hand gently tapped him on the back, since she couldn't reach the man's shoulder. "Captain Okamura." A small, light voice squeaked out softly. "These are for you, Captain." She held up a small bag and the Captain looked as stumped as the rest of the team did as she stood there, offering him the box of cookies.  
"F-F-f-…for me!?" He suddenly shouted loudly, pointing at his gaping face making the girl jolt in surprise at the sudden booming voice he was using. "Captain, you're going to scare her!" Fukui scolded with a grumble, causing the large man to turn to him with a glare. "I am not going to scare her! I am not scaring you, right!? You're here because you like me, you actually like me!?" He turned to her with another booming shout that made the small girl yelp and just shove the box in his hands before running out of the gym, yelling some form of an apology as she went.  
"See!? You scared off the only girl to ever show her feelings toward you! Though, it's really strange a girl would confess to a gorilla like you…" Fukui muttered his brows furrowed as Wei Liu merely gave a shrug of indifference. "At least he gets the food." He said simply, and then moved on to practice.  
Okamura stared down at the box with a rather….saddened face. The first time a girl gave him anything, and he scared her off with his loud voice, and probably intimidating features. Still though, he opened up the box and blinked at the note inside.  
Picking it up, he read it out loud unconsciously.

_"Okamura-San, here's the cookies your mom ordered from the shop the other day. She paid already, so just make sure not to eat them before you get them to her after school; I am busy right now so I asked Shigeko from the baking club to deliver them for me, Chieko."_

All was silent as the Captain lowered his head, eyes shadowed ominously as Fukui blinked narrowed eyes. "…So in the end, it wasn't even actually a girl showing her affection toward you, but a cute girl doing Chieko a favor…."  
Shiori let Okamura cry it out on the bleachers while everyone else practiced, even Atsushi strangely, because she knew how much it bothered him that no girls liked him and his gorilla features. Forever would his face be only one that a mother loved.

"Shi-Chin, does Chie-Chin have a boyfriend?" Atsushi asked when practiced ended, and that caused a rather amused smile to spread across her face. "No, Chie hasn't had a boyfriend before actually. Not a lot of guys can handle her….abrasive personality." She giggled softly in amusement before she resumed putting up the balls with the other team members. "Why do you ask?" She cast him a quick glance, brows furrowing for a moment. "Do you like it when Muro-Chin kisses you?" He asked a question instead of answering, one that made Shiori turn red and splutter a lot of nonsense before someone stepped up behind the larger man.

"Atsushi….Why would you ask Shiori-Chan such a question?" Himuro asked in such an eerily calm manner, that it sent shivers up Atsushi spine. "M-Muro-Chin….I kissed Chie-Chin and she got really mad….I was hoping Shi-Chin could help me figure out why." The two both put a pause on their emotions to show confusion before it dawned on Shiori. "You kissed her!? M-Murasakibara-Kun, Chie isn't the best at dealing with stuff like this, just kissing her like that, or any girl really, would make them really flustered and upset. Why would you just come out and kiss her?" Shiori asked with a sigh, rubbing her temple in mild annoyance. The giant merely blinked, not understanding what was so wrong about it when they kissed all the time.  
"I wanted to know if Chie-Chin tasted as good as her sweets."

Shiori couldn't help it when her hand met her face with a loud smack. "That is not a good enough reason to kiss a girl!"  
The giant frowned at her words before Himuro interjected once more. "Atsushi, how did she taste?" He asked softly, ignoring Shiori's incredulous look. Atsushi pulled a thoughtful expression before finally answering. "Better than cake." He nodded firmly, as if confirming that with himself as well. "Did Hisoka-San push you away immediately, or did she kiss you back?" He asked another question, but this time Shiori didn't look so confused anymore. "No, Chie-Chin kissed me too for a while, it felt really nice but then she pushed me off and got mad and left…." He trailed off, and then Shiori whispered softly.

"I think she just got a little overwhelmed Atsushi, talk to her at lunch tomorrow. She'll be on the roof, I am sure you guys can work it out, but I think you need to give her a night to calm down, okay?" Shiori said softly, and the purple haired man nodded. "Okay Shi-Chin." With that, they were left alone once more since most of the team had already left to go home.

"I can't say I am surprised, but I am surprised that Atsushi was the first one to do something." Himuro said softly, and Shiori nodded before tucking a strand of silver hair behind her ear. "Agreed, I guess you weren't as sneaky as you thought if Murasakibara-Kun was able to catch you kissing me." She narrowed her eyes on the taller male but only got a soft laugh in return. "I didn't entirely care if we were caught, Shiori-Chan, I still don't." Leaning down Himuro pressed their lips together in a chaste kiss, and for the time being Shiori stopped caring about the embarrassing moment they shared with Atsushi not too long ago.  
For now, at least.

**I AM SO SORRY I HAVE NOT UPDATED IN SO LONG THIS PAST MONTH WAS HELL AND THEN MY BREAK (GenCon) CAME AND I WAS BUSY AGAIN BUT HAPPILY BUSY SO I WASN'T SO STRESSED AND I WAS ABLE TO WRITE THIS AND I HOPE THIS IS ENOUGH TO PLEASE YOU I PROMISE TO DO BETTER NEXT TIME THANK YOU ALL FOR FAVORITING AND FOLLOWING AND REVIEWING MY STORY YOU ARE ALL TOO KIND TO THIS LOWLY FAN FIC WRITER.  
***Ahems* Well, now that that's out of the way, someone requested OC's for Okamura, Wei Liu, and Fukui so there's Okamura's obviously enough. The next two girls, Ayano Minori and Eiri Chinatsu will come up fairly soon. For a little fun, the first person to guess which girl is paired with which KNB hottie gets a free one shot from me~ Just PM about it though so there's no spoilers for anyone else, if you're Anon...Well, get a damn account it's useful!  
Your one shot can be Cannon x OC or Cannon x Cannon and can be either yaoi or straight. However you must tell me if you want a tasty lemon or not because if you leave it up to me it could go either way- o3o;;;  
It can be from any one of these anime listed:  
KNB  
KHR  
Saiyuki  
Prince of Tennis  
Free! Iwatobi Swim Club  
Attack on Titan  
Gintama!  
K Project  
Actually, there's more I know of but listing them all is such a pain...Just tell me what you'd like and if I know it I will do it~  
Thank you for reading, I'd love to see some more love for my story~


	12. Chapter 11: Sweet Gorilla Man

Murasakibara kept to the advice given to him and didn't bother Chieko that night or the next day during class, he'd decided that he'd go up to the roof during lunch and block the door until she talked to him about it. Likely wouldn't be hard, considering how big he was and how impossible it was to move him when he was guarding something. Almost like basketball, but the goal was very different.

While Atsushi dealt with his own problems, Okamura had some of his own to handle. Self-esteem and guilt for scaring that poor girl that Chieko sent to give him his mother's order of sweets. Her name was Shigeko, right…? She had to be a first year to be that small, so it wasn't likely they'd run into each other during classes….  
He'd have to go to the baking club room, and do this without seeming like a creepy stalker. The latter would likely be his greatest challenge.  
So he decided to get some advice from Shiori, who likely knew the girl through Chieko and wouldn't verbally abuse him like Chieko would if she found out about his intentions.

"It feels like a lot of people are coming to me with problems, lately…"Shiori muttered when she heard the Captain's request. "Eh?" He blinked in confusion but she merely waved him off with a chuckle. "Never mind, that girl is Hotaru Shigeko, she's a third year like you but she's also the one that started the baking club here at school. When she found out Chie's family owns a sweet shop she tried very hard to get her to join, but in the end Chie only goes and bakes when she feels like it." So like Chie, getting a permanent commitment like that would be too much of a pain with her work schedule anyway. But Okamura was more shocked to find out they were the same age.  
"Anyways, Shigeko-Senpai is always trying to get her to join officially so it wasn't surprising Chie got her to do her a favor." Shiori sighed softly, tucking some hair behind her ear before going around a corner. "She's so small how is she my age…?" He muttered to himself, and Shiori answered that simply as well. "Senpai's grandma on her mom's side is a dwarf, her mom isn't but she's quite short and her dad isn't the tallest guy around either. At least that's what Chie said when I asked her something similar." Okamura made an "Oh" sound before nodding and looking down.

"Okay, time for my class Captain, Senpai lives at home so you should check the lockers before you head to class, just apologize quietly and I am sure she will forgive you." Okamura waved the younger girl off as she went into her class room. "Thank you Hisoka-Chan!" He called before jogging off so he could get there and then back to his next class.

Sadly, when he arrived there were lots of students coming and going from the lockers, but none of them were the small girl he'd met and scared the other day. Groaning and pressing his head to the wall, the giant muttered to himself quietly. "Damn, how could I mess this up too?" He grumbled before going silent as he heard a locker door behind him shut and a soft voice ring out shyly. "Captain Okamura….?"  
Turning around so fast, Okamura briefly feared whiplash until he looked into those wide pink eyes. "Shigeko-San!" He shouted in a mix of disbelief eliciting a slight jolt from the girl, making him remember how fast she was to run when he scared her last. "No, wait!" He grabbed her smaller hand in his own, taking note of the calluses on them, before clasping his second large hand over hers as well.  
"Shigeko-San, I wanted to apologize for scaring you last night I know I am huge and look like a gorilla so I probably terrified you and I misunderstood things so much I got so excited and I just-…ugh, I am so sorry." He hung his head, not expecting to be forgiven honestly.

Hotaru stared at Okamura silently, but her eyes were wide as she listened to his monologue, wondering why the hell he was this upset over startling her-but as he continued she got a little confused and more embarrassed at the hand holding since there were still some people in the hall, and they were watching the two with some disbelief and quiet laughter.  
"A-ah, Captain Okamura….I think there was some misunderstanding…C-could you let go of my hand please?" She asked softly, giving a gentle tug and he was quick to release her with a deep blush. "Right! I am so sorry, again." He said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck as Hotaru quickly crossed her arms behind her back, unconsciously holding her rather warm hand.  
"Captain….Your face and size didn't scare me, when you yelled so loudly and said those things…It was just really embarrassing and I overreacted, so I think we both need to apologize in this case…." Okamura gaped at her as she bowed to the taller man respectfully, eyes going wide before he started spluttering nonsense, but then managed to get out one more apology before bowing back to her.  
Giggling, she straightened up and tucked her hair behind her ear. "So…my size and face didn't scare you?" He didn't seem to believe her, so she gave a quick nod. "Of course not, why would it?" She blinked, looking a bit confused.

Okamura had never been happier to meet a girl that wasn't scared of his size; somehow it brought a sense of relief to him as well. "Ah, it's just a lot of people say I look like a gorilla because of my size and my face…" Hotaru blinked as he rubbed his face, looking a bit conflicted on if he should be upset over it or not. "I think it's a compliment to be compared to a gorilla, if you think about what kind of animal they are…." She trailed off, and blinked at the expression of awe on his face. "I-I mean, they're very strong animals and they're very dedicated to protecting their loved ones….So, wouldn't it be more of a compliment to be compared to a gorilla?" Ah, how badly he wanted to hug Hotaru right now.  
It was funny how she could say the things he so wanted to hear from someone.

"Shigeko-San…Could we maybe eat lunch together? Y-You know, so we could talk more about gorillas together…." He asked hesitantly, not sure if she'd agree to it when it was likely she would want to eat with her friends.  
But she was just full of surprises. "Oh? Sure! I love talking about animals in general so that sounds like fun." The small girl giggled before glancing up as the bell rang. "Oh crap I am gonna be late for class, see you later Captain Okamura!" She turned ran down the hall, waving over her shoulder. Okamura waved her off, feeling a sense of disbelief take over.  
It wasn't a date, but he got to talk to a girl and she wasn't scared of him really….  
Could this day get any better?  
"….Crap I am late!"  
Of course not.

"Ah, where the hell is Shiori? Eh, she might be with Himuro…." Shiori grumbled as she looked around the empty rooftop, soon taking a seat where she always did and pulling her lunch out to eat. The snow had melted down quite a bit already and it wasn't as cold out anymore so she didn't mind sitting outside today. She didn't get much of a chance to eat that though, because soon she had a visitor that made her want to run.  
Since that little…fight she had with Atsushi she'd avoided him like the plague and he didn't seem to be chasing her until now. Until now, she'd felt strangely lonely even with Shiori coming over after school and talking to her between classes.

Until now….She'd missed him so much but now that he was there, standing in front of the door with such a cutely determined expression on a usually bored face, she felt almost happy to see him.  
_"Why can't I be mad at that face?"_ She thought to herself as Atsushi leaned on the door. "Chie-Chin, you're not leaving the roof until you stop being mad at me." He said firmly, as if that was enough to mend things between them.  
Shiori stared at him with a deadpan expression before she just covered her face and sighed. "That….is a terrible way of trying to work things out…." She sighed and glanced off to the side with a small frown, but then started eating her lunch like nothing had happened. Atsushi watched her silently before puffing out his cheeks, trying to decide how to change his tactics.

Yeah, considering how good she was in school, it wasn't likely she'd lose much by missing a day of classes. She'd also likely not give a damn about getting scolded either, she was used to that from sleeping through classes in the past.

Changing his tactics, Atsushi snuck up behind Chieko before suddenly grabbing her from behind and pulling her onto his lap and tightly under his muscular arms. Chieko yelped and struggled against his arms to get free, but she didn't try for too long before giving up. She knew she couldn't escape such a strong grip, and honestly…being in this position made her blush hard and her resolve weaken because it just felt so….good.  
"Let me go damn it!" She growled, punching his arm not that it did much. "No, not until Chie-Chin stops being mad at me…." He rested his head against hers, making the tie-dyed haired girl freeze up at the soft breath brushing against her neck. It took all she had not to shiver from the feeling.

Bowing her head, Chieko went silent for a while before mumbling ever so softly.  
"I was never mad at you…I was more upset with myself because of how I acted toward you…and I was…embarrassed…" She admitted almost hesitantly, barely able to bring herself to say those words because of a pride that had gotten the better of her a little too much.  
Atsushi blinked slowly as she spoke, tilting his head some as his amethyst eyes stared down at her hidden face before he cupped her chin gently. "So I can kiss Chie-Chin again?" He asked quietly, leaning down already regardless of her lack of an answer. Blushing furiously, she didn't fight him as he held her chin between two fingers and tilted her head back so he could press their lips together in a rather…sweet kiss.  
He tasted like chocolate flavored Maiubo so she figured he was eating that before he came up on the roof, and she had to wonder what she tasted like for him to like kissing her so much. Closing her own amethyst eyes, she gave in and melted into the kiss slowly. Returning it softly seemed to please Atsushi because she could feel his grip on her waist tighten somewhat and pull her closer to his muscular body, and Chie couldn't really complain about getting to feel that.

Thankfully or sadly, the bell rang before it got too heated and the two pulled apart slowly. "I-It's time for class…." Chie managed to get out, glancing away from the purple haired boy as he removed his hand from her chin. "I don't wanna…." He whined, pressing his forehead against the back of her head. "Well, we have to….be good and I will make you some cookies later…." Instead of protesting more he lifted her into his arms and pretty much dragged her out of there to get to class faster. "I can walk damn it!" She was still a bit grumpy from lack of sleep.  
But still, she had to wonder what his feelings toward her really were, he never said if he really liked her….but his actions made it seem like he did. Hell, he might not even really know himself so for now she'd just go with it until she got the nerve up to ask him straight out.

However, while they had their time on the roof Okamura was having a hell of a time with his own predicament. He'd totally forgotten to set a place for them to eat together.  
"I can't believe I did this!" He cried to himself as he banged his head on the cafeteria wall repeatedly, having been unable to find the short girl in the crowds of people and she hadn't sought him out. If Fukui were here, he'd likely say something along the lines of "She probably didn't tell you where so she could hide from you", but if that were true she had to be one hell of a liar. She looked like she really meant what he said.

Just when he was going to give up hope someone tapped his back softly. "Captain Okamura, are you okay? You're going to hurt your head if you keep hitting it like that." Okamura quickly spun around, once more so fast he feared whiplash, to stare down at the small girl behind him. "S-Shigeko-San!" He spluttered, seeing her with a small paper bag in hand.  
She smiled up at him softly, not seeming too bothered by his weird actions. "Sorry I am late; I left my lunch in my locker." She chuckled softly and held up her little bag. "I was thinking, since it's so crowded here we could eat in the gym? Maybe you could show me some of your basketball; I've never really seen anything in person before."

Needless to say, Okamura jumped on the chance to not only spend some alone time with the cute girl but also show off his basketball skills. Maybe playing the sport would pay off after all.

As expected the gym was entirely empty so it was just the two of them, Okamura pulled out his bento and then Hotaru pulled out a peanut butter sandwich which caused the large man to look down at the girl strangely.  
Blushing under his gaze, she glanced away. "I like peanut butter a lot…" She whispered before taking a bite out of the sandwich, eliciting a laugh from Okamura before he shook his head. "I can tell…." He mused before he broke open his chopsticks and started eating some of his meaty bento. "Mm, want some?" He offered the girl softly but got a headshake in return. "No, I am okay." She said after swallowing the thick sandwich.

It was awkwardly silent for a while before Okamura finally broke it.  
"So, you seem pretty knowledgeable about animals…" He trailed off, hoping he wasn't wrong since she didn't tell him a whole lot about animals but she said she really did like talking about them a lot so he just assumed….  
When her eyes lit up, he knew he hit the nail on the head.  
What he hadn't expected her to start belting out fun facts about different kinds of animals, everything from sea otters to tigers and panda's. She was quite well informed or well-read perhaps. It made him wonder why she was this educated on the topic of animals, it was certainly more information than what was given during school hours.

"Shigeko-Chan, I was wondering why you know all about these animals?" Okamura suddenly asked making her cease her near endless ramblings. "Oh my god I am sorry, I didn't mean to ramble." She smiled sheepishly, a soft blush tinting her cheeks but he waved his hand. "That's not at all a problem! I am glad you have something you like to talk about so passionately, I was just wondering why." He said with a small smile, and Hotaru relaxed a bit. "Oh…Well, I want to work with animal's when I grow up…Maybe at a zoo, or perhaps work as a vet or maybe something else entirely…I just love them so much." The small girl smiled and Okamura felt a little admiration toward her ideals. "I think you'd be great as any of those with how much you know about them." He mused softly and chuckled at the blush that tinted her cheeks. "T-thank you….Ah, you're finished already? Well, we have some time so why don't you show me your specialty?" She looked toward the basketball hoop with a small smile, and that seemed to make his light up. "Of course!"

Hotaru finished the last of her sandwich as Okamura grabbed a ball from the closet, dribbling it absentmindedly as he walked to the hoop. At first, he was a little nervous because he'd never actually played for anyone before…Besides trying out of course, but this was far different. He really wanted to do well for her, maybe impress her some. He couldn't help it!  
Biting his lip, Okamura spared her a glance and saw the excited smile on her face and grinned to himself. Rushing forward, Okamura pretended to fake past a few players before he spun around and slammed the ball in the hoop with a loud cry. Soon after he landed he could hear her happy claps.

"Amazing! I've never seen someone put the ball in that hard!" Okay, so Hotaru had never seen basketball before and didn't know to call it a dunk, she was innocent in those matters. "Haha, yeah I am good at dunking." He tossed the ball away before joining her on the bleachers. "No wonder you're the Captain." She chirped softly, smiling up at the larger man. Scratching his cheek softly, Okamura then asked sheepishly. "Hey Shigeko-Chan….Maybe…I mean if you're not busy with friends or anything! We could um…eat lunch together like this again more often…I could teach you basketball stuff and you could teach me stuff about animals, sound fair?" He asked with big eyes full of hope. Hotaru blinked softly for a moment, before a wide smile crossed her lips. "I'd love that!"  
He'd never been so relieved in his life.

"Great! Ah, the bell's ringing we should get back to class!" Giggling, Hotaru hurried out of the gym to they wouldn't be late. He was so sweet, she felt rather…safe with him. He reminded her of a protective gorilla honestly, maybe a bit sweeter though.

(feels like I should have read through that more for mistakes...Eh, I will later when I am not so tired. I updated again within a week ish time~!  
Contest is gonna be up until the first character comes in, had one contestant review instead of PM sadly so it doesn't count win or loss! Not saying if its right or wrong though, so that one shot of your choosing is still up for grabs! **PLEASE USE PM NOT REVIEW EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE AN ACCOUNT NO EXCUSES PLEASE!**  
Anyways, this came out longer than planned so it took longer than planned, hope you guys liked all the fluff. There's still some work to be done, after all Himuro nor Atsushi have outwardly said what they feel for Shiori and Chieko...it's just somewhat obvious for them both but one is a bit of a dumb bell and the other is just a tease. xD Please show more love for my story~ I will begin work on My Sin is Greed next, then work on Chapter 12 *Can't believe I've gotten this far already* Enjoy!)


	13. Chapter 12: The First Real Date

"So I am confused, are you and Murasakibara-Kun going out or not?"  
Shiori had made Chieko come over to her house to get ready for her dinner date with Himuro, when asking him where they were going for this date he wouldn't tell her so she asked what she should wear and well….his reply did not help her in the least bit.  
_Anything you wear will make you look beautiful._

How is she supposed to decide between jeans and a skirt now!? Well, she'd still have to wear pants underneath from the cold but that could still work out cutely if done properly.  
And well, of course they talked about the men in their life….They tend to drive them insane.  
"I would say yes if it wasn't for the fact he may not even know what going out means." Chieko growled quietly, dropping her head into her arms from her spot lounging on Shiori's bed in her dorm. "I am sure he's not that bad….Well, maybe he is…ugh does this even go with my hair?" Shiori groaned as she pulled out a blue blouse and examined herself in the mirror hooked onto the inside of her closet door. "He's good in certain ways….Blue looks pretty good with black and the silver in my opinion works." Chieko shrugged before standing up to help-but stopped when her shorter friend stared at her with wide eyes. "Why are you….FUCK NO NOT THAT!" She quickly defended herself against that possible innuendo that Shiori had picked up on. She was just too sharp sometimes. "H-He just….kisses pretty well…" Shiori almost laughed when she saw that blush and not-so casual look-away from her friend. "Never would have thought you'd fall for someone this hard before." Shiori mused and noticed Chieko's ears had turned red. "S-Shut up, I have not fallen for him…." Though she said this, it was more like she was in denial than anything.

"Give me that." She took the blouse and threw it away. "You don't wear crap like this, I do-""How can you call something you like crap-""So stop dressing like anyone but yourself, if he doesn't like that then I'll kick his ass." Shiori sighed at her best friends violent tendencies, but knew she wouldn't do it. Despite her nature, she really wasn't much of a fighter unlike Shiori herself. They really were opposites in terms of….everything, but got along splendidly.  
"Now wear these." Next thing she knew she had some jeans and print T-shirt shoved in her arms and she was pushed toward the bathroom. "Chie but what if it's a formal place-"Of course the door was slammed in her face and she was left to change on her own.

Damn.

Shiori came out in blue skinny jeans and a white shirt with the picture of an ink painting; it was of a bamboo grove and many, many adorable panda bears and was quite well done but looked like the ink was trailing down the shirt. Shiori loved that style. "And now put these on." Shiori yelped as she was pulled to the bed and made to sit down on it and given a pair of heeled black boots. "T-these aren't even mine!"  
"No, but they're just a size bigger than yours so they should fit." Chieko said plainly, staring at her intently until the girl gave in and she pulled them on. Zipping up the back, she found they came up to the back of her upper calve and were quite comfortable actually. "Now this." Shiori squeaked as a slimming black pea coat was thrown on top of her. "Maybe when I actually leave…." Shiori trailed off, and she was sure Chieko was slightly embarrassed. "Take your hair down." Shiori did as asked with a small teasing smile, not saying anything but saying plenty at the same time.  
Chieko sat behind her and gently brushed out her hair and Shiori closed her eyes in bliss, just….enjoying this peaceful moment for the time being.

"Hey, does he know about your family?" Of course Chieko ruined it with that, but she didn't open her eyes as she felt the bed dip showing that she was moving around to the front with her hair joining her. It felt like she was braiding it over her shoulder. "No….I think it's too soon for that…." Shiori whispered and got silence in return, and she took that as Chieko agreeing with her decision.

"Done."

They had agreed to meet in town by the sports shop and Himuro was a little more than nervous, not that anyone could tell, because this was really his first official date with Shiori.  
It had been a long time since he fussed over himself, but in the end he decided to dress more functionally in the weather than fashionably. Simple warm jeans and a black sweater with a white undershirt, he wore a knitted beanie over his head to keep warm along with his black coat. His hair kept some of his ears warm on its own the hat helped it keep them in place enough and the scarf he wore kept the rest warm.  
When he arrived, he found himself beaten by that beautiful girl. Damn why does she do this to him?  
Shiori was resting against the window underneath an awning and the snow fell around her in a picture perfect moment.  
Her hair had been braided over her shoulder and laid over a form fitting pea coat and her bangs were brushed out of her eyes for once and kept out of the way from the black beanie she wore to keep warm. Her scarf was dark blue though, and was tossed over her shoulder. And those boots….Wow, those were impressive heels.  
"Shiori." He breathed out and she seemed to hear him as those silvery-blue hues locked on him and he saw her smile. "Hey…Tatsuya-Kun…." He couldn't help it, when he got over to her he kissed her cheek softly. "You look beautiful." He said softly and she pouted a bit in retaliation-but she was flushing cutely. "You look good too…." She mumbled, not able to match his bold words and her eyes diverted to his chest. He chuckled before threading their gloved fingers together. "Come on, let's go." At least she'd finally figure out where the hell they were going…..

So the café he took her too was nice, but not so nice she felt awkward wearing jeans and a T-Shirt of all things, but still it was a bit nicer than the average café she'd get morning coffee with Chieko on a rough morning. "Honestly I wasn't sure where you'd like to go, but I was hoping to use this as a chance to get to know you a little better." Himuro said with a polite smile that made her heart race some. "I am all for a nice steak dinner but I am personally happy with a hamburger just as much." She couldn't help the light chuckle that slipped from her lips before she looked down at the menu. "But I think a chicken sandwich and a smoothie would be good right now." Shiori chirped and laid the menu down. "What flavor?" He rose a brow, and she hummed in thought before deciding. "Strawberry," she nodded softly and smiled slightly in amusement at his chuckle. "Waiter?" He waved one over and smiled up at him. "Two Strawberry Smoothies', one chicken sandwich and a BLT please." Nodding the waiter left them alone and she looked at him with a slightly nervous smile.

And so the awkward silence began, where she was feeling too nervous to be able to come up with something to talk about. Well, she could give him a warning.  
"So the Coach and I came up with a new idea for training." Himuro had a feeling she came up with the idea that the Coach approved of but Shiori was just too modest to say it was her idea. "So tomorrow the team is going to be practicing with the Gymnastics team," at his rather confused expression she let out a soft chuckle. "I know the Captain, Eri Chinatsu, from middle school. I was talking to her the other day and she said the Basketball Team looked a little stiff during their games and they needed to…loosen up. I thought it would be a good idea to let the Gymnastic team girl's help fix that so your next game would-""Shiori." Just hearing her name from his lips made her stop and a light blush tint her cheeks. "Was I rambling? I am sorry." She mumbled shyly, rubbing her face.  
"No, I like hearing you ramble, just I'd rather you ramble about something else. Tell me about yourself, your family, you have to have another passion besides basketball?" He asked with a sweet smile and a kind tone, and Shiori felt horrible because she didn't want to talk about her family and didn't have a whole lot to avoid that topic.  
"W-Well, if you haven't noticed I quite like sweets…." She trailed off and earned a chuckle from Himuro, but he could also sense her apprehension in the matter. "Do you like to read?" He asked softly, and she was grateful for the help. "Oh yes, I don't read much in Japanese usually though it's mostly American novels and stuff like that. I kind of got into them when I went to America to visit my uncle; he gave them to me from his personal library." Ah her uncle again, she mentioned him before, having gone to visit him in the summer time. That was how she explained her excellent English skills to him before. "You're quite close to your uncle." Himuro mused and she nodded softly. "Mhm, I try and go see him as much as I can." Shiori explained before sitting back as the waiter returned with their drinks. "Thank you." Shiori smiled at him before taking a sip. Yup, strawberry was one of the best.

Before Himuro could request her to tell him more, she asked for the same in return. "Myself….? Hmm, well you already know of my odd likes and hobbies. When I was a kid living in America though I had a very close friend, so much so we considered each other brothers…." Shiori saw him unconsciously finger that ring hanging from that chain she always saw him wearing. "What was his name?" She asked softly, tearing her eyes away to look into his eyes. "Taiga Kagami." Shiori looked almost thoughtful at the name, but then smiled. "A Dragon and a Tiger." Himuro looked almost confused before laughing, realizing how ironic what their names meant. "Did you both play basketball?" Shiori tilted her head as she mixed the shake up unconsciously. "Oh yes, we played hundreds of times…." Himuro got a faraway look suddenly, perhaps reliving those games? She wasn't so sure, but when he finally snapped out of it when the server came and delivered their food he smiled gratefully. "Thank you." And the two began eating in a peaceful silence, not broken until it was time to go. Himuro helped her pull on her coat and the two walked out and Himuro finally asked his last question.  
"So, what is Chinatsu-San going to have us do?" He asked curiously and Shiori smiled. "You will have to find out tomorrow, Tatsuya-Kun."

Shiori thought the date was over but apparently the second half was on the way to the train station. "You know if we stay out too late we'll get in trouble from the Dean…" Shiori mumbled as she gazed up at the club in front of her labeled in neon colors, "The Dancing Dragon" and had to wonder what he could want to do here?  
"I want to dance with you; of course I'll make sure we get back in time." Himuro chirped and the girl flushed. "I've not quite…ever gone dancing before….or danced much in general." Clearly he did not give a damn, for he began dragging the girl into the club against every protest she gave. "It will be fun~"

Shiori actually kind of liked it, the loud music, the bright lights, it was strange but she found herself smiling at the sounds and sights of people dancing together without a care in the world. She looked at Himuro and saw him grin at her before tugging her into the crowd. Shiori squeaked before being pulled into his arms and that rather toned body of his, blushing hard she looked up into his eye and he pecked her cheek lightly. "Don't think, just move your body."  
It took her an awkward minute before Shiori started swaying her hips to the music, mostly thanks to Himuro's discrete help. But then a small smile slipped onto her face as she started to get into it. She didn't hear Himuro chuckle over the music before he spun her around to face him and held her close as they swayed together slowly, probably slower than the music really called for considering all the bodies around them were moving a lot faster than they were out of the corner of Shiori's eyes. But she found staring into Himuro's pale amber eye was far more….interesting.  
Fascinating, even.  
"That's good." She heard hum murmur over the music, just barely, before leaning down and capturing her lips into a soft, sweet kiss that made her knees feel a little weak. God, only he could get her this mushy without even trying that hard. Really though, he was trying harder than she thought he was just much better at pretending to be calm about it all than she was.  
She didn't want the moment to end, but they had to breathe at some point and when they parted she noticed the clock over his shoulder.  
"….T-Tatsuya curfew is in 10 minutes…."  
"….Oh, shit."

(**I AM NOT DEAD I SWEAR I AM JUST IN AND OUT OF HELL (WORK) QUITE OFTEN AND THUS AM QUITE BUSY AND CAN BE FORGETFUL BUT I HAVE NOT ABANDONED THIS STORY.**

**PLEASE FEEL FREE TO VERBALLY ABUSE ME IN YOUR REVIEW JUST HAVING REVIEWS MAKES ME HAPPY.  
I PROMISE THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE MUCH BETTER.)**


	14. Chapter 13: Stretch it Out

Shiori got a lot of mocking laughter from her best friend after explaining the events of her date to Chieko, omitting the kissing on the dance floor bit of course, but the race back to the dorm and sneaking to her room, since Himuro wouldn't let her go alone, without the night guard spotting him. She wasn't sure if he'd gotten back without being spotted or not yet since she hadn't seen him but she had good thoughts at least, Chieko's only comment was her laughter until she was forced to stop for class.  
Shiori knew she wouldn't see Himuro until practice since as soon as lunch came around; she had to stop by and make sure the gymnastics team Captain Eri was still up for her little idea.

Atsushi was mad because he really wanted to see Chieko during lunch and she was done, and now that practice had begun he couldn't spot her in the bleachers like he always could. It had become a pleasant routine for her to watch/sleep during practice and wake up now and then to give Atsushi some sweets when he got bored and decided to take a break.  
But she wasn't that, and the scowl across his face made it obvious he was upset. "Shiori isn't here either." Himuro said from behind the giant, having actually been doing his warm up exercises unlike Atsushi who had decided to skip them, again, and instead was looking for his sort of girlfriend. "Shouldn't you be stretching?" Himuro chided as he was ignored the first time, and was ignored the second time as well, sort of. "Where's Chie-Chin?" He mumbled and looked quite displeased at the lack of the sweet maker.  
Before Himuro could comment further, Masako's booming voice rang out in the gym. "Line up!" Begrudgingly the team did, most of the begrudgingly coming from Atsushi being prodded along by Himuro incessantly.

She looked as serious as ever, Shinai point first on the floor with her hands resting on the butt rather…intimidatingly. Those that faced that wooden blades wrath, besides Atsushi who didn't give a damn, before were all breaking more than a small sweat as she leveled her glare with many much taller boys. "We're all going to the Gymnastics Team training Gymnasium to participate in their practice." And at their shocked faces, besides Himuro who had a sort of heads up about it, Masako tapped the wood sword on the hardwood floor loudly. "Move out!"  
Himuro figured out where Shiori and Chieko were now, at least.

What Masako had failed to tell the basketball team that the Gymnastics team was the GIRL'S Gymnastics team, though honestly most of them probably didn't even know the school had a National Winning Girls team and that was why they had their own Gym to practice in, until they walked in to a lot of girls stretching out in various….positions a lot of the guys, mostly Fukui, were watching all too attentively now.  
"Stop gawking at the girls!" Several rather obvious ones got smacked and Atsushi's eyes were drawn to a rather amusing sight. Apparently, Chieko was taking up Gymnastics with Shiori, but only one was actually managing to succeed.

"This is not a physical possibility! Damn it Shiori stop proving me wrong!" Chieko whined/cried at the other girl who was currently holding herself up on one of the balancing boards with her legs in a perfect split and holding it like a damn pro. While Chieko was managing to hold herself up, another was trying her damnedest to hold the bakers legs up by her calves and wasn't having an easy time of it. "Stop trying to close your legs you're not going to flash everyone!" The brunette holding her legs snapped back at her.  
To Himuro and Atsushi, the best part of it was Shiori and Chieko was in one of those skimpy little leotards the gymnastics team uses as uniforms. Shiori's was quite the sleek black and Chieko's was a dark purple.  
"Atsushi…you're drooling." Himuro said quietly, very pleased his poker face was keeping him from getting smacked upside the head by Masako's Shinai. "Ah?" Apparently he hadn't noticed much, it was hard considering Chieko's….ample bust.  
"I think…If I die today I will die happy." Fukui chirped. "Good because now you're gonna die!" Masako snapped and Fukui yelped when he received a knock to the head by her Shinai and was sent tumbling to the ground. "Shinju Hisoka what are you doing in Leotards!?" Of course she was quick to snap at the girls as Shiori gracefully slid off the balancing board.  
"Dying." Chieko whined unhappily and Shiori merely giggled. "I thought it might be a good idea to get a better understanding for what the boys will be learning, and I was right it will certain come in handy to be this flexible! Especially stretching their muscles out, after this everything we do to them will be nothing to them!" Shiori chirped and the blissful faces of the basketball players enjoying the sights went pale.  
"No way!" Before Fukui and Okamura could run off together Masako's eyes glinted darkly and the Shinai flew from her hand-somehow it bounced off the back of Fukui's head and smacked into Okamura's and sent both boys tumbling down to the ground. "Does anyone else want to run?" From fear of her demonic eyes, everyone including Atsushi shook their head fervently in reply. Even Himuro was a little scared right then.

"Okay, I think I am done with this chick. There are some that just can't do it." The brunette that had been holding up Chieko's legs finally let go and the tie-dyed haired girl flopped right off the board and landed on the padding with a thud. "Ow my legs….." She mumbled, rubbing the limbs delicately. "Oh it's not that bad." The brunette scoffed and Shiori finally introduced her.  
"Everyone, this is Eri Chinatsu. She's the Captain of the Girl's Gymnastics team and won the last 2 National Championships."

Eri was very small, standing at a mere 5'4" her height and body type were likely perfect for someone in Gymnastics. Her hair was very long though and a soft chestnut brown, but tied in a tight high pony tail and kept out of the way. However her rather long bangs fell in her eyes and past her nose a little, clearly not kept out of the way but it didn't seem to deter her glaring ocean blue hues at all. Her eyes matched her Leotard, too.  
All in all she was probably the most intimidating midget Himuro had ever seen, a mini Masako even.  
"Hey it's like a Mini-Masa-Chin." Atsushi suddenly voiced and if Himuro didn't have better self-control he would have face palmed. "Haha!" Chieko burst out laughing as dark auras started spewing from both Masako and the Midget. "We're all going to die at the end of this…." Fukui whispered to Wei, who had managed to stay rather blank faced through this entire endeavor. "The probability of that is painfully high…." He whispered back with a quiet sigh and Fukui pat his back sympathetically. "Alright, before I kill someone let's split everyone up with a partner. Ladies~!" Eri called out to the others as Chieko and Shiori went to the changing rooms to get back in their uniform, though it was mostly just Chieko that wanted to change and Shiori who decided to tag along to avoid seeming very jealous or upset when Himuro receives his female trainer.  
She would not be the jealous type…. Maybe.

"I guess since you're the last one left, I'll teach you." Eri said as she came up behind Fukui who was watching Okamura with a small grin, but intently tensed when he heard the familiar voice. Slowly turning around he had a small pleasure to see he was taller than someone for once but it was gone when she shot him a glare. "To the mat, let's go."

In an attempt to calm the beast Fukui tried to make small talk as they walked to the mat and simultaneously made an impressive effort not to stare at the girls rather toned ass. "So you're Chinatsu-San? I am Kensuke Fukui the teams Point Guard, it's nice to meet you." Eri stared at the offered hand like it offended her somehow before slowly taking it in her own-and Fukui couldn't help but notice how small and soft her hand was compared to his own large, rough hand. He shook her hand cheerfully but she didn't look all that pleased. "If we're done with the pleasantries we should start, have you warmed up any before coming here?"  
Fukui laughed awkwardly and nodded, thinking how hellish this would be.

While that was going on the ladies had returned from changing back into their uniform and were greeted with an amusing sight-the regulars of the Basketball Team were not having a great time of this. Well, actually Wei wasn't having that many issues apparently he was quite flexible and his trainer seemed pretty relaxed.  
Okamura…Was flustered and because of that he was having trouble following the girl's instructions and that was frustrating her and causing her to touch him more-Shiori could not decide if he thought he was in Heaven or Hell….And Atsushi….  
"I think your boyfriend is causing that girl grief." Shiori giggled as they watched the much smaller girl try and actually push Atsushi towards the mats while he just stood there, eating chips. "I feel like I should help but this is amusing….Oh, look at your boyfriend." Shiori blinked and looked toward Himuro-and felt her face burn with rage.

Himuro was doing quite well-but she couldn't help but notice how the female instructor was making sure to be VERY hands on and that made Shiori want to kill her. Especially when she giggled at whatever Himuro said as he smiled that damn cute smile at her. "Murder is on my mind." Shiori muttered bitterly and Chieko deadpanned in response. "Get the fuck over there." Shoving the Manager toward Himuro she then headed to Atsushi with plans on making him go through the pain she went through. He was gonna stretch even if it killed him.  
Shiori stumbled a little bit before grumbling and heading over to the two, awkwardly scratching her head. "You're doing well Himuro-San."  
Hearing his name from a familiar voice in an unfamiliar way, Himuro lifted his head and saw Shiori and instantly knew she was jealous. She'd been calling him Kun every other time they spoke in public if not just Himuro or Tatsuya, but for her to use San-  
Things were dire already.  
"Shiori-Chan-ah, excuse me I would like to speak with my girlfriend for a moment." Yup, and there went all her worries. Her face turned as red as the other girls, but hers was not from rage like the Himuro-Fan-Girl that had been taking care of him. But she backed off as Himuro went over to Shiori's burning face and kissed her cheek lightly. "W-What are you-""You're my girlfriend, it's only natural I'd want to call you that. I know it's not exactly proper to kiss in public but you were being so cute I couldn't help it." Shiori's face burned harder at his embarrassing words and then pinched the bridge of her nose roughly. "You really know how to read someone…." She said quietly and Himuro let out a soft chuckle in her ear. "Maybe it's just you."  
Such lies, but she let him lie this time around.

"Come on, Atsushi." Chieko walked past Atsushi as the small girl tried to push Atsushi toward the padding and nearly fell over when he started following behind her like a lost kitten, munching on chips he snuck in with them. He probably hid them in his gym bag, again. "What do you want him to do?" She asked once they were standing on the mats and she had followed them there. "U-Um, stretches are good before doing anything strenuous…." The gymnast said slowly and Shiori nodded. "He already did some warm ups in the gym so he should be fine."  
Murasakibara just stood there munching on chips innocently as the girl started describing what sounded like uncomfortable things to do. Then Shiori asked him to do that-  
"….No." It was the longest pause ever, because he really didn't wanna say no to Chie-Chin but there was no way his body was going to contort like that. There was no way he was going to try to either-"Unless you never want to eat from my shop again or taste my sweets again you will."  
Ah fuck, she just had to go there. God damn it.  
"….Okay." It was a smaller pause this time around before he caved in and handed her his bag of chips delicately like it was gold.  
Chieko just smirked some as it all began.

"You're not doing half bad." Eri mused after helping Fukui into a handstand, slowly pulling her hands away from his legs after steadying him. "H-Hah, easy." Fukui managed to get out between grunts when his legs swayed a little too much either way. Eri rolled her eyes some and crossed her arms. "Alright, do this then." Going into a slow run to a fast one she lunged forward and planted her hands on the mat and swung into a perfect handstand, and then her legs stretched into a perfect split, toes straight and legs even bent down some to dip in front of her face. "Oh fuck that." Fukui blurted and then lost balanced-causing him to fall flat on his face. "Haha!" Eri laughed before falling forward but once her foot landed on the mat she gracefully rolled her other leg forward and stood up straight. Adjusting her hair as she came over she helped Fukui to his feet with a grunt. "It takes a lot of practice to do something like that, don't be too upset you didn't hold it that long." Eri shrugged and Fukui was about to comment, but then a thud resounded along with a yelp and everyone's eyes were on the purple haired giant.

Poor thing, he'd tried a handstand and fell over right onto Chieko. His poor chips had been smashed too. "**MURASAKIBARA**!"  
Ooh, last name, that can't be good.

So very little of the class actually went well, however Fukui did well enough and Masako still believed that being more flexible on the court would help the team so they would be back. Eri actually seemed to be pretty happy about that, Atsushi and Chieko not so much. "Come back any time, we'll be happy to help." Eri told them as they lined up to say their thanks to the girls team. "We will, it was…interesting working with you ladies." Okamura said slowly but as politely as could be. His trainer scared the piss out of him to be honest.

"Hn, good luck at the Inter High." Eri said with a wave of her hand before whistling at the team to start packing up the supplies while they headed off, but didn't notice Fukui come up to her until he tapped her shoulder and startled her. "Fuck! Oh, it's just you." Eri blinked at the pale haired Point Guard before smiling just a bit. "Sorry to scare you, I just wanted to say you're a really good teacher….See ya around." Fukui grinned at her slightly before slipping off, leaving the brunette Captain to merely blink at where he was before.  
"That guy reminds me of a cat….."

(Dear god its been forever I am so sorry, next one wont take nearly as long I swear. I do hope you enjoyed my attempt at comedy-sometime it doesn't always work out as well as I expected. xD You're welcome to bitch at me in reviews, I know I took forever.)


	15. Chapter 14: Gathering the Troops

It was just a month until the Inter High and everyone was nervous in their own way, their fearless leader Okamura liked to take the time to relieve some stress by talking to the little rabbit he'd befriended Hotaru. She in return would bring him sweets from the baking club for him to drown his nerves in.  
Fukui had really quite taken to Gymnastics, or maybe it was just the girls in tight little leotards, but Eri apparently didn't mind because she never kicked him out.  
Wei….Well, no one really knew what Wei did. No one was going to ask him about it say the least.  
Himuro spent his evenings usually lounging with Shiori, who'd been officially his girlfriend for a while now and as long as she had no roommate to snitch on them.  
And Atsushi didn't seem to give two shits about the Inter High; his days went about the same as always-eating everything. However there was nothing official between him and Chieko, she still wasn't sure he knew what he was doing most of the time, they were nearly inseparably. She just did not let him stay the night anymore after that…incident.

Shiori though, had been stressing to find a good affordable training camp…And she'd finally found one, she just needed some help.  
"It's a good looking camp, seems like we could go there. However we'll need more volunteers to help with the boy's upkeep." Shiori understood that, they would need to have more help with cooking and cleaning so the team could focus more on the training rather than anything else. "So if I get more help we can go….?"  
"Yes, how long until you can get some help?" Masako questioned with a raised brow and Shiori smiled. "Start applying to the Dean so we can go, I will have enough by then." Masako believed her, and so Shiori began her list.

Masako told her the bare minimum would have to be 5, and that was fine with her. She was sure that she'd come up with that amount in time, she already had two, herself and Chieko. Not that she was going to tell Chie that coming to the training camp she mentioned meant work….She'd probably be in charge of cooking, she wasn't half bad at that either.  
The third member…May be difficult.

"Chinatsu-Senpai isn't going to agree to this." Chieko said immediately following after Shiori told her and the others on the roof of the school while they ate lunch together. "For one, she has Gymnastics practice but she also has school work and would only be allowed to come if her grades are good enough they don't think she'd suffer from the time off." Chie finished and huffed when Atsushi stole some of her meat from her bento. "I could imagine Chinatsu-Senpai having good grades, I am sure that wouldn't be an issue." At least Himuro was being helpful, Shiori thought with a huff. "I was thinking of getting Kensuke to talk her into it, they're kind of close…" Shiori trailed off and Chieko scoffed.  
"Only because he's better at Gymnastics than the rest of the team, and teachable…." Chie shot a glare at Atsushi that made him look away with a pout. "Wei doesn't do too badly; it's just the muscly men of the team aren't that great yet…" Shiori mused and Himuro cocked a visible brow in reply. "Are you saying I am not muscular Shiori?"  
Letting out a squeak she flushed in embarrassment and looked away quickly. "Of c-course not! I mean it's just that Murasakibara and Okamura-Senpai are both really-Why are you looking at me like that?" She quickly spluttered out when she saw the sly smile on his lips. "Nothing at all…."

Ignoring their little lovers quarrel, Chieko poked at her foot idly. "What about the other two?" She finally asked, and Shiori was happy for the distraction. "Hotaru-Chan and Ayano Minori, I think Hotaru-Chan could help with cooking." She quickly added when Chie shot her a glare. "Bad enough she goes off on her own with that Gorilla at school but to let her go to a training camp with him…." She grumbled and Shiori rolled her eyes some. "What would they do?" Atsushi questioned, expression rather deadpanned but curious all the same.  
"…" Everyone was quite silent for a while before Chieko covered her face. "Let's not discuss that…." She muttered unhappily and left him looking adorably confused. "Poor thing," Himuro whispered to Shiori and got a nod in return, but was lightly red herself.

"Anyway, who's Ayano Minori?" Himuro asked as he resumed eating and Atsushi did the same, not paying them too much attention. "Part of the Photography Club, she's actually the founder they do a lot of stuff for the school newspaper and all that. I was thinking we could bribe her with an exclusive look on the team's training camp. It would give their club some good exposure it's still quite small." Shiori chirped as she shut her notebook. "I was going to ask her to come to practice today and take some photos, see if she goes for it." She added and Himuro hummed thoughtfully. "That would be good for the basketball team too." Shiori smiled and nodded softly in agreement, glad he liked the idea as well.  
Chieko made a pretend gagging sound and shut her box swiftly as the bell rang. "Time for class, I'll ask Hotaru when she comes to bug me to bake with her."  
Of course Shiori had to hug her for that but it made Chieko fall on Atsushi's lunch box by accident-  
"….Alright I am out before he explodes." Himuro stated as he saw the shadowed look on Atsushi's face and the girls pale expressions.  
"**TATSUYA!**"

Exiting class with a tired sigh, Shiori scratched her neck and tried to recall back to where the photography club was held and then turned to go there-but bumped face first into a giant's chest. "Ouch oh god-oops, sorry Wei thought you were Murasakibara…." She trailed off, shivering when she thought of that giants rage after they knocked his food everywhere. Wei merely blinked at her before shrugging. "Where are you going? It's time for practice and the gym is that way Shinju-San." He pointed out making her smile. "I know, I am stopping by the photography club to try and recruit some help for the training camp?" She was glad he didn't ask about mistaking him for Murasakibara, and looking worried about it.  
"Oh, right Coach mentioned working on that last week…" He mused, trailing off before shrugging again. "Sure, why not."

While that was occurring for once Chieko went to the Baking Club of her own volition and stepped inside, eliciting gasps from its occupants. "Hisoka-San you've finally decided to join us!" Running toward her with arms outstretched, Hotaru was met with Chie's hand on her face to keep her back. "No, actually I am not. Can we step outside?" The odd request left Hotaru a little confused but she agreed nonetheless and slipped out into the empty halls with Chie.  
"What's up?" Hotaru asked nervously, playing with the little braid in her hair unconsciously as she looked up at the much taller yet younger girl. "Shiori wants to know if you'll come to this training camp she's got set up two weeks before the Interhigh, she asked me to ask for her since she's looking for others right now." Chie finally got out with a sigh and Hotaru blinked rapidly in surprise and her mind immediately went to getting to spend more time with Okamura. "Ye-Wait…How would I do that I mean I have to take time off from school…." She trailed off and Chieko shrugged. "Shiori's giving me some paper work to get signed….If your grades are fine you'll be allowed an absence for it." She explained and Hotaru pursed her lip in thought.

"On one condition." Hotaru replied after a few minutes of annoying silence and Chieko rose a brow at the rather petite girl. "What?" Chieko asked quietly, eyes narrowed some and Hotaru managed a nervous smile. "Help us learn to bake better; we all want to be better at this…." She trailed off, expression a little thoughtful before she looked up at Chieko again. The much taller girl frowned, going silent for a while and Hotaru was a little worried she had pushed her buttons too much but then she nodded and pink hues lit up. "Let's go, I'll teach you guys some stuff…." She pushed past the happily squealing girl and sighed.  
She hated teaching~

As for Shiori and Wei; they'd both gotten themselves lost among the halls looking for the damn photography club that they ended up going to the office to find the room. Apparently Shiori read it wrong and they went in the opposite direction of where it actually was. Wei was not pleased with her because of that to say the least.

But they found it at last and when they walked through the doors Shiori was surprised to just see a total of 6 people there, all with fairly nice cameras but one who had a very expensive looking camera around her neck.  
She was kind of plain looking but still pretty, long raven hair was tied back in a high pony tail so the hair just gently brushed against her shoulder blades while kept up. Long bangs were tucked behind her ear but some rogue thick pieces fell in a set of chocolate brown eyes. She was quite slender and wore a thick set of headphones around her neck with a wire that likely went to an MP3Player in her skirt pocket.  
Indifferently Ayano stared at the two as the other students there gaped at the tall basketball player gracing them with his odd presence.  
Seeing Wei Liu wasn't something they were expecting, nor did they expect to see Shiori there either.  
"Hi." She waved awkwardly before stepping in along with the taller Chinese man. "What brings the Manager and Small Forward of Yosen to my humble club?" Ayano drawled as she lifted her camera and took a random picture of the two's rather amusing expressions of confusion.

"You're….Ayano Minori right?" Shiori asked hesitantly and the raven haired girl nodded as she adjusted her camera lens. "That's right." She drawled and Wei rubbed his dark eyes since the flash blinded him briefly. "I was hoping we could discuss a deal that might benefit both our clubs?" At that, Ayano lifted her head and her lips barely curled to show the tiniest of smiles. "I wouldn't mind listening."

Wei felt like this was some sort of business transaction instead of just trying to get volunteers to help with the training camp, sitting across from Ayano as she sat at desk and adjusted her camera absentmindedly while she stared at them with a more indifferent expression than even he could pull off. Regardless, if this was who they needed Wei wouldn't question Shiori-he'd just question this odd girl.  
"So what you want from me is to go to this training camp for a week and help cook and look after the Giants of Yosen in return for getting to take as many pictures of them as I like?" Ayano clarified and got a nod in return. "Yup, I imagine the paper would like an inside look at the training camp before the Interhigh, it would be a good exclusive and exposure for your club if you were able to get in on the private training camp." Shiori reasoned and Ayano hummed thoughtfully as she leaned back in her chair, kicking her legs up on the desk lazily.  
"How about a celebratory photograph after making a lovely deal?" Ayano suggested as she raised her camera, and Shiori nodded with a smile. "Alright, smile." Ayano put the camera to her face and peered at them, but Wei wouldn't smile.  
"I'll only smile if you smile as well." Looking a bit stunned briefly as she pulled her camera away, Ayano quickly composed herself and clicked her tongue. "….Touché." She mused, putting her camera down.

It was an odd moment but Shiori and Ayano exchanged numbers so Shiori could fully fill her in later, when they weren't already late for practice. At least they had an excuse for it though, so when they got there Coach Araki wasn't all that upset over it.  
"I am just waiting on Fukui to talk to Chinatsu-Senpai and then I'll have them all." Shiori informed her after checking with Chieko to make sure that Shigeko-Senpai had also agreed to go along with it. Masako nodded and looked to their Point Guard, who looked a bit sheepish under their stares. "Well, I was going to ask her after practice…." He said with a weak grin. "Text me when you're done so I can let Coach know as soon as possible." Shiori insisted and Fukui nodded grimly.  
He really wasn't sure how Eri was going to take this, to be honest. It was a very…selfish request to say the least considering her club activities. But nonetheless, he was going to ask and hope she accepted.

Fukui got out early, with the coach's permission, and headed right to the Gymnastics' team training room and when he stepped in Eri was dressed and talking to a few other girls he recognized as other regulars. However as soon as one of them noticed him they told Eri and she looked toward Fukui with a perplexed expression.  
He merely grinned and waved as she excused herself and walked over to the pale haired man. "What the hell do you want?"  
As polite as always, but still, it was strange seeing her in anything but a small tight outfit…  
"Maybe I just wanted to walk you home like a gentleman." He retorted with a scoff and headed out with the small brunette girl. "I live in a dorm dipshit it's not like I am riding the bus or train home." She countered with a roll of his eyes and he sweat dropped some.  
Well, he'd seen Himuro escorting Shiori to her dorm so…. "It's still the gentlemen thing to do." Eri didn't look convinced, but she also didn't tell him to fuck off either so he took that as a good sign.

"So have you been practicing your stretches and handstands?" After a while of silence Eri broke it and that made Fukui grin somewhat before nodding. "I am close to being able to walk on my hands now without falling over." He chirped and Eri's lips curled some. "Baby steps, but good all the same," she mused softly as she adjusted the strap on her bag absentmindedly.  
"So when are you going to ask me what you came to ask me?" She asked bluntly and Fukui cringed at her perception. "Before we get to your room…probably."  
"That'd have to be now because we're here." Cursing his poor luck the two stopped in front of Eri's room and he wondered if she roomed with someone when he heard music in the background and that made him hum thoughtfully before looking toward Eri calmly.  
"Right, well I was hoping you might be willing to volunteer for going to a training camp with us and help the others out with cooking and stuff…." Truthfully he wasn't sure what they needed the help for besides cooking but whatever Masako needed to get it done. "How long is the training camp?" She asked calmly, hands stuffed in her skirt pockets. "A week, Shiori-Chan can give you a form to fill out so you'll get a pass from classes during that time…" He trailed off, expression hopeful as he watched the young girl tilt her head and stare at the ceiling.

"….Sure, but on one condition!" She quickly added when he suddenly grinned at her, making him puff his cheeks out unhappily, but she just rolled her eyes at him. "Name it." He drawled, stuffing his hands in his pockets to mimic her mockingly, causing her to narrow her eyes some but she didn't comment on it. "You have to hold a handstand for 3 minutes."  
Before he could even say a word she slipped into her dorm room and shut the door in his face.  
Oh he felt so fucked over right now, time to ask for Shiori's help.

Shiori was confused when Fukui came to her with the request to help him perfect his handstands, and for a moment she thought about telling him that Eri had already come to her with her paper work filled out and signed and she'd be helping them regardless….  
But this was just too good to pass up, and agreed to help him in this situation he'd gotten himself into it.  
So while everyone else was practicing for the Inter High, Shiori was helping Fukui stand on his hands for as long as he could. It was mostly the issue of helping him learn to handle all the blood flowing to his head.  
"Alright….I am going to release your legs, do you have it?" She asked quietly and the pale haired Point Guard grunted, his face bright red from standing like this for so long. "I think…I have it…." He said quietly, and Shiori sighed. He decided to shoot for 5 minutes so he wouldn't look stupid when he collapsed from the head rush.  
"Alright." She stepped away and watched as he held his legs up for a good few seconds, but then toppled over face first on the mat. "That looked a bit painful." She mused as he laid there rubbing his head furiously. "Well, let's try without me holding your legs up…." She said calmly despite the situation, and Fukui let out a quiet whine before pulling himself to his feet.

"What are they doing?" Eri asked as she stood beside Chieko, the taller girl grunting as she searched through her bag for her snacks. "Practicing hand stands so you'll come to the training camp." She explained, and the gymnast slowly cocked her head to the side. "Odd, I already agreed to go with Shiori….he took me seriously? Oh well, he'll figure it out eventually." Shrugging, she headed off to practice herself and Chieko watched Fukui with a blank expression, then bit into her candy bar.  
"Poor idiot."

At the end of practice the Coach and Shiori wanted to make an announcement regarding the training camp—and it floored poor Fukui, who was dizzy from all the head rushes he had. "We have succeeded in getting all the volunteers we need; we leave for the training camp at the date previously given in the paper work we had you give to your parents and teachers. I hope you can all make it! Make sure to have your paper work handed in before the coming weekend. Clean up and hit the showers." Shiori said cheerfully, and everyone was quite confused at the painfully confused expression on Fukui's face.  
"I was fooled…."

(This time I have a good excuse for being so absent, it was because early in the month a publishing company announced a contest, that whoever got a complete manuscript to them by June first would be considered to be published!  
So I wrote a book in less than a month, required a lot of no sleep nights since I work 5 nights a week. Though really, seems like I cant get a chapter done in less than two months *Sobs* Sorry, hope you liked it. The training camp will be in the next chapter, and will likely be quite long so it may be a while with my busy schedule.  
I do hope you like it, and thank you for all the reviews follows and favorites! I know it's not great, since I am horrible at beta work on my own stuff. xwx )


	16. Chapter 15: Encountering a Black Cat

The ride there was surprisingly….not insane? Shiori expected everyone to be bouncing around from seat to seat until the Coach screamed at them to sit still for more than five seconds at a time, but it went very smoothly. But then again, it was really just a training camp for the regulars and some of the first stringers so it wasn't hard to keep track of everyone. The rest either couldn't get permission to take off or decided not to go, which was their choice. This trip would be hell.  
Himuro sat beside Shiori the whole ride there, Atsushi mooched snacks off Chieko while Fukui tried, and failed, to get Eri to teach him more acrobatics. Apparently she decided to do this as a vacation from Gymnastics—as much as she enjoyed the sport, taking a break was nice now and then.  
To literally everyone's surprise, Hotaru and Okamura spent the whole ride just….talking, mostly about animals, but it was amazing such a cute girl was talking to such a gorilla—at least that's how Fukui put it. Shiori thought it was sweet, but she still felt bad because it felt like Ayano was pretty left out, she had the only empty seat and had been fiddling with that camera the whole way there, not speaking a word or even looking at anyone really. Himuro told her he just didn't think she was a very social person, but no one was even trying to talk to her and that made her feel worse.  
She mostly didn't go because Himuro kept his arm tightly around her waist, but also because Ayano scared Shiori slightly.

After the long train ride and then the longer bus ride, they arrived at the training camp just before dusk. "Ah I am so sore…"Eri grumbled, stretching out her near painfully flexible body by stretching her leg behind her head and pulling on it—Chieko rubbed her thigh as if she felt the pain in it just from watching. "I'd recommend some stretches before bed, but at the same time I am too tired to give a damn what you boys do." Coach Araki yawned and Shiori quietly giggled at her Coach but nodded her head all the same.  
"So just as a reminder, we're splitting the building with the volleyball team Nekoma, they live closer so I am sure they're already here and settled in so don't be surprised if you see some guys you don't recognize wondering around." Shiori chimed as they walked up the steps to the mildly large beach side building—it looked like there was an inside gym, that was good.  
As soon as the door opened though Shiori's face bumped into something soft and bouncy—the team nearly popped a nosebleed.

The woman was as tall as Himuro with quite the curvaceous body, nothing like Chieko's cup size but still larger than Shiori's and that was enough to make her dislike the woman beside landing face first into her loosely covered breasts. Slender calves led up to firm curvy tanned thighs clad in very short shorts that Ayano was pretty sure were running shorts a size too small, plus those shoes looked to be running shoes but she wasn't a sport expert so she could be wrong. The plain white tank top she wore had a mildly deep scoop neck that still made certain Shiori felt her soft skin—poor thing.  
Over all that though was a red and black jersey that was far too big for her to be hers.  
Feline like deep golden hues were partially hidden behind raven bang that messily hung over them, the rest of her thigh length raven hair was tied back but it was layered around her face so it looked like she actually had shoulder length black hair if you didn't notice the pony tail.  
Looking like this—she looked like an amazon, a lean but curvy body just lightly tanned to make her skin look gently kissed by the sun.

Finally after a moments silence the woman pulled what looked to be a wireless ear bud from her ear and she yanked Shiori's head back by her hair making her yelp, face beat red from embarrassment as those cat like golden hues narrowed with a small grin forming upon once pursed lips. "At least you're cute." Was the first thing out of her mouth and Fukui and Okamura were the first ones to pop nosebleeds—many of the first stringers followed.  
"Oh my god I am so sorry!" Shiori finally spluttered out as the woman released her and leaned on her left leg, jutting out her hip casually yet so temptingly. "No worries, you must be those basketball players—Yosen was it? Nekomata-Sensei wants to see your Coach, they're probably still drinking in the cafeteria right now….I am going out on a run before bed however—otherwise I'd show ya around. Just head down the hall and take a left, you should be able to hear them considering how inebriated they were." Laughing to herself, she waved the team's stunned expressions off and slipped past them—that was when Himuro noticed the number on the back of her Jersey.  
"Are you the Captain of Nekoma?" He asked, not believing it but decided to ask just in case. Stopping, she looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. "No—but my stupid boyfriend is and this is comfortable. Oh, my apologies my name is Kurosawa Sayaka by the way. I am Nekoma's manager." With that, she flashed the angry looking Coach a peace sign and started off on a jog.  
Atsushi was lucky Chieko hadn't caught him staring at her ass like the rest of the team; she would have injured him severely.  
"We're getting off on a great start." Coach Araki groaned quietly, rubbing her temple before smacking a student upside the head for nearly drooling on himself while he watched Sayaka's ass vanish in the distance. "Just freaking amazing." Shiori muttered bitterly and only grumbled in response to Himuro's one armed hug and sympathetic smile.  
He kind of enjoyed that, to be honest.  
Fukui still couldn't figure out why Sayaka looked so damn familiar though….

Finding them was easy, they could hear the old man laughing drunkenly through the double doors that led into a large cafeteria and inside were two old men drinking beer happily and a very small boy playing a video game curled up on a chair as fart down the table he could get away from the two. Looked like he dyed his hair blonde at one point and then allowed his original black hair color to grow back in and Himuro was certain he heard Atsushi mumble something about pudding but decided not to think much of it—the kid was wearing a Nekoma jersey, but not the number Sayaka wore.  
"Ahahahahaha! You must be the Lady Coach from Yosen! Come have a drink with us, Kenma go show the kids to their rooms for the night while the adults talk!" The old man Shiori was pretty sure was Nekomata-Sensei from the almost feline grin he wore laughed at the small boy and he lifted his head with a tired sigh, clearly looking unhappy with having been stuck with the two drunken men but all the same he nodded and walked over to their group. "Good luck Coach." Shiori whispered to Araki, who merely grumbled before joining the table.

"Follow me…." Shiori looked down at the boy, wondering if this was a middle school team briefly, before she led the group back out into the hall. "You're Kenma-San? I am Shinju Shiori, Yosen's manager." She said as she joined his side, smiling down at him politely but Kenma seemed to have trouble making direct eye contact, but he did offer a slight smile and a nod of the head. "Nice to meet you Shinju-San…I am Kenma…Kenma Kozume, Nekoma's Setter…." Shiori knew a little of Volleyball and recalled that the setter was like the point guard for basketball as she thought over it some. "Has the rest of your team already settled in for the evening, Kenma-San?" Himuro asked casually and the small boy looked over his shoulder briefly and nodded.  
"We've mostly settled in, I mean Kuroo's probably the only one awake right now…." He trailed off and Chieko blinked softly. "Kuroo's your Captain?" She asked because if she was that girl's boyfriend and knew she looked like that right now—she would be far from sleepy.  
"Yeah….You met Sayaka-Chan, didn't you?" Kenma was pretty perceptive, Chieko mused silently and nodded her head but Shiori was the one that spoke. "She was….nice, just said she liked her boyfriend's jersey. We thought the team was a girls' team briefly is all." Shiori laughed awkwardly and when Fukui saw Kenma look at her like she was lying, he laughed. "She said something rude about Kuroo right? They're not getting along very well right now…." That made so much sense to Shiori—well, sort of. At least she knew why Sayaka seemed pissed at her boyfriend, at least.  
"Oh I see." Shiori didn't want to pry too much, it wasn't her business.

"Here's your team's room." Kenma suddenly stopped and Himuro nearly bumped right into the small boy before looking up at the door he was pointing too, then noticed movement and further down the hall was a man anxiously looking down at his phone while he more than likely was texting someone. His hair stuck up on one side so much it looked like he was in a state of perpetual bed head and fringe that fell over his right eye mostly, he stood a little bit taller than Himuro and was more built than him despite still being quite lanky as well, he wore red shorts and a black t-shirt.  
"Thanks Kenma-San." Himuro said softly, looking away from the clearly irritated man to smile at the shorter male. Kenma avoided eye contact but nodded his head some as most of the team went inside already, Hotaru giving them a shy but cheerful goodnight while Chieko merely waved them off casually making Atsushi snicker down at her before bending over to get inside of the room.  
"Good night Shiori-Chan." Himuro gave the girl a soft kiss to her cheek that made her face turn a vibrant red, a little more aware that the man down the hall was watching them now. "G-Good night Tatsuya…" She said quietly, ignoring Eri's quiet snicker, and smiled at the dark haired male before he slid the door shut behind him.

"Your room is the next hall over…." Kenma said quietly, walking them down toward Mister Bed-Head, something Chieko decided to dub him until she knew otherwise.  
"Hey Kenma, stuck being the tour guide?" He snickered as they passed by and Kenma sent him a sharp look. "Shut up Kuroo…." Hearing the name Shiori blinked and looked up at the man and stared into his feline narrowed eyes and he looked back at her with a toothy grin.  
"….Most people don't answer texts while they're jogging, if you're trying to talk to Kurosawa-San…." The Yosen girl's turned toward Ayano when she finally spoke, looking quite indifferent herself as she stared at the now rather squirmy Kuroo. "….Yeah…." He muttered, shoving his phone in his shorts pocket and then went into the room he'd been standing outside of, slamming the sliding door rather loudly.  
"He seems….nice?" Shiori offered and Kenma didn't speak as Chieko rolled her eyes. "I guess it's true, hot guys always date hot girls." Eri sighed dramatically before Ayano let out a quiet sigh.

"Let's continue with this tour." Ayano said dryly, not fazed by Hotaru hiding behind her when she heard the startling slam. She really was like a damn mouse sometimes.

Kenma led them to a large room with several roll out beds set up for them already, which was really nice, but one of them had a Nekoma bag sitting beside it. "You'll be sharing with Sayaka-Chan, good luck." Kenma said plainly, then turned on his heels and slipped through the girls to head back to the boy's room.  
"He's cute but so apathetic." Chieko grumbled as she chose a spot furthest from everyone—habit, Shiori tended to cuddle in her sleep. "I am more worried about Kurosawa-San shoving her tits in Shiori's face." Eri snickered as she settled into her spot in the middle of the room, stretching out on the roll out bed with a sigh. "Thanks for your sympathies." Shiori drawled sarcastically, Eri flashing her a peace sign before letting out a yawn. "I should really change but I am so sleepy…." The small woman muttered quietly while the others all finished unrolling their beds and settling in themselves.  
"It really wasn't much of a tour; I don't know where the hell the bathrooms are." Chieko grumbled as she pulled out a bag of chips and started munching on that.  
"I think Murasakibara-Kun is rubbing off on you…." Shiori said quietly, and was likely ignored considering she saw her eye twitch when she said that.

It wasn't more than a half an hour later when Sayaka returned, fresh from her work out a she had a towel around her neck, her shirt was damp and her lightly tanned skin was glistening with sweat. "Eh?" She pulled out an ear bud, looking a little surprised at the PJ clad Yosen girl's in her room. "I wasn't told I'd be sharing a room….Well, damn." Sayaka sighed, ignoring the looks of indignation on some of the girl's faces and walked over to her bed and grabbed some clean clothes—and then walked right back out.  
"….Okay, she's a bit of a bitch." Shiori said bluntly, and suddenly everyone started laughing because no one expected Shiori to say something so rude and it was perfect.  
"What?" Of course, Shiori herself looked pretty lost at their reactions.

When Sayaka returned she was wearing sweat pants and a loose T-shirt, towel hanging around her neck and hair damp from her shower she sauntered in and smiled at them. "Sorry, I was a little bitchy before, been a long ass day." With that, she plopped down on her bed and rubbed the water from her ears with a soft hum.  
"Ah it's okay, we have those moments." Shiori said amiably, and Sayaka offered an award winning smile. "Thanks for understanding, so what are your names?" Sayaka chirped, suddenly quite friendly now that she's cooled off in the shower it seemed.  
After a quick introduction, minus Eri who was passed out already but Shiori introduced her, Sayaka hummed. "Nice to meet you all, it's nice to see Yosen has some cute girls amongst them." Grinning at them, Shiori flushed and Sayaka barked out a laugh before shaking her head. "Don't worry, I am straight as can be but it's so much to fool around with others don't you think?" Before anyone replied, her phone dinged and she checked it briefly before stuffing it under her pillow with a grumble.  
"Sorry." Waving her hand dismissively at Shiori's concerned look, Sayaka flopped back on the pillow with a grin.

"So did my cousin show you around properly or did he just take you to your rooms and slip off?" At their bewildered expressions, Sayaka laughed. "Kozume is my cousin, hard to see any resemblance because he ended up so damn short and dyed his hair. But back when we were kids, we looked so much alike people thought we were siblings." Sayaka laughed softly and laid her head back down on her pillow, stretching out that body lazily.

"You share the same eyes." Ayano said quietly and Sayaka blinked those feline like golden orbs and then grinned slightly. "Nice eye, photographer are you?" She sat up and Ayano looked up some toward the woman. "Did the camera give it away?" She replied sarcastically and the raven haired woman grinned slightly, tucking some of her layered hair strands behind her ear. "Confirmed it, I work with photographers a lot you have to have a good eye to do the job." Ayano raised a brow in reply before it seemed to have donned on her and Hotaru looked a tad bit confused like the rest.  
"What is it?" She asked the photographer and the tall woman grinned.  
"She's a model." Ayano said quietly, pulling out her phone and Chieko rolled her eyes—flopping back on her bed with a grunt. "Of course she is!" Sayaka merely laughed at her reaction while Ayano googled her.  
"That's right, I've been featured in Vivi, covered for Seventeen and done several sports and cosplay magazines. I've even done a couple shoots with Kise Ryouta." The familiar name made Shiori blink softly before she rubbed her face. "Wow, that's impressive." She mused softly and Ayano stared down at a picture Hotaru decided to peek at.

It was a good picture; Sayaka was sitting with her feet propped up and legs crossed while bracing herself back on her hands. The picture was taken at a sideways angle, and her long raven hair had let loose but styled so it would lie behind her like a cape. Her outfit was faded jeans that hugged her shapely legs perfectly with a leather zip up shirt that had sleeves made of black lace designed to look like flowers. The shirt was unzipped some to reveal the white lace shirt underneath that modestly covered her chest but it wasn't hard to tell she was endowed.  
Narrowed feline golden hues were narrowed on the camera like a cat stalking her prey, and Hotaru blinked rapidly in surprise. "Pretty." Ayano tucked her phone away and glanced up at Sayaka. "Not a hair out of place." She said indifferently and Sayaka chuckled softly before allowing her eyes to draw back to Shiori. "You know, you'd make a pretty model especially with that hair. You should join me during a shoot sometime." Shiori's face burned and she shook her head quickly.  
"Oh no, no offense but I could never put myself out there it'd be far too embarrassing." She said modestly and Sayaka grinned slightly. "Ya never know, once you start you'll never stop." She cooed but Shiori didn't say anything, absentmindedly she played with her silver hair before Sayaka noticed the time on her phone.

"Well ladies, we all have to get up early tomorrow and help prepare breakfast for the boys. At least I won't be stuck doing it with boys that don't know their way around the kitchen anymore." With that they all settled in, Hotaru wondering how deep a sleeper Eri could be to have slept through all that laughing and teasing, but didn't dwell on it as she fell into a deep sleep of her own.

Morning came earlier for the girls than it did for the boys because they had to make breakfast for everyone including themselves. It wasn't that bad, Sayaka was pretty damn fast at it too. She chopped up the veggies at rapid speed while Shiori cooked them and Hotaru prepared the rice. Chieko was in charge of putting everything together alongside Ayano and Eri once it was cooked. Put together, they all did a pretty damn good job together.  
Sayaka was actually really fun to get along with, though she did enjoy provoking Eri and Ayano regardless if Ayano even gave her a reaction, and the fact that she dressed rather….slutty.  
After looking through her pretty damn classy photo shoots, Shiori couldn't believe that Sayaka dressed like that on a regular basis. She could believe her flirty personality, it seemed to suit her but not the clothing.  
She dressed herself in painfully tight jean shorts that did cover her ass, but pretty much only that and just barely. She wore the same white scoop top as when they first met her but today she wasn't wearing the Nekoma jersey she recalled was Kuroo's. It was revealing because her bust wasn't small, and to Shiori it just seemed out of place.  
Though everyone in Yosen and Nekoma seemed to enjoy it once they walked in, looking sleepy but hungry and then all awake once they saw Sayaka suggestively leaning over the counter they get their food from with a sultry smile.  
"Come and get it boys!"  
Shiori saw the pure look of rage on Kuroo's face and Nekoma backed off, so did most of Yosen besides the stupid boys that didn't notice Kuroo's rage. No one wanted to go first for a while before some of the stupid ones that didn't notice Kuroo's rage went first.  
"Poor souls." Yaku muttered to himself before suddenly a very tall half Russian zoomed past him. "I want food!" Lev cried happily, making it there before anyone else thanks to his long legs. Atsushi looked momentarily surprised to see someone so tall like him, but Atsushi was still a good six inches taller than Lev.

"I want food Muro-Chin." Atsushi whined, but seemed too nervous to move because of Kuroo's demonic aura he was giving off while he watched Lev and the other's get their dinner. "Let me see if I can get Shiori to take the orders so we can eat." Himuro mused, pulling out his phone and Fukui clapped his hands together. "Our saving grace." Himuro ignored him as he texted Shiori with furrowed brows.  
"Thanks Saya-Chan!" Lev chirped happily and went to a table, but then felt a shiver go up his spine and he turned to see Kuroo's eyes narrowed darkly on Lev. "O-Oh not this again!" He whined and hid in the corner so he could eat his food.

Himuro was relieved when Shiori tapped on Sayaka's shoulder, whispering something to her before Sayaka shrugged and switched places with her. "Now we can eat." Himuro nodded and got in line with the rest of the team that eagerly hurried to the food. "Thanks." He heard someone say from behind him, and turned around to peer down at a slightly short blonde. "I am Yaku Morisuke, from Nekoma. It would have been a while before we could get our food if you hadn't helped us out." Yaku said quietly, as Kuroo was in the back talking to Kenma with a rather infuriated expression. "It's alright, is there a reason she did that?" He asked quietly in return, and Yaku scratched his head some.  
"I'd love to know if there was a good reason for this shit…." He muttered and the taller boy behind him with spiked up brown hair laughed. "Let's hope it ends soon, I miss talking to Sayaka without Kuroo-San glaring at me like some demon…." He sighed and Yaku shrugged his shoulders some. "Getting close to Sayaka-Chan won't make it any easier getting your regular spot back from Lev, Inuoka." Yaku sang and the brunette pouted. "I know! But I am still working hard to get it back…" He grumbled softly, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest some.  
Himuro didn't speak; he smiled though before glancing back at Kuroo thoughtfully. He hoped he and Shiori never end up in a fight like this….

Once everyone had gotten their lunches the girls got their own and moved to the table the Yosen regulars were all sitting at, and instantly Atsushi was picking at the sweets Chieko had brought him. "Thank you Chie-Chin." Atsushi chirped happily as he munched on a freshly baked cookie, well maybe not too fresh it had been two hours since she baked them earlier that morning.  
"So you're the future model's boyfriend?" She heard a familiar voice coo from behind when Himuro kissed the side of Shiori's head, and said man blinked his caramel hue softly before looking up at Sayaka's teasing smile. "Future model?" He questioned as Sayaka plopped down next to the flustered Shiori.  
"She's pretty enough to work with me certainly." Sayaka said casually and then Shiori instantly shook her head. "I think I am good, thanks." She insisted— ignoring Himuro's small smile as Sayaka shrugged. "Ya never know when the model bug will bite, it's a pretty good job despite the bad rep it has." She mused softly as she started eating her rice ball.  
"Anyway, I did have a question for you guys—after you're all done with your scheduled practice and allowed your own practice time, did you wanna give volleyball a shot and play against Nekoma outside? Tora was talking shit about hitting a spike past Murasakibara-San, and I bet he couldn't do it." Sayaka grinned slightly while Atsushi didn't look very worried about it. "I think that'd be fun, but I don't know anything about Volleyball." Okamura grunted, scratching his head softly. "Oh don't worry, I'll teach you all you need to know. I'll be Setter for you guys as well, since you'll be going up against Kenma." She flashed a rather sly grin like she knew something they didn't, but instead of asking they decided it was best not to—probably.  
"Sounds like it will be a battle on the beach." Hotaru giggled quietly into her hand, a little eager to see them play. "I feel like we'll have an advantage…." Wei murmured as he looked over the team's impressive height—Atsushi himself probably stood over the net. "Oh don't worry; you'd be surprised at how good Nekoma is at handling any height." Giving one last knowing grin, Sayaka got up and headed back over to the Nekoma table where a rather annoyed Kuroo sat—but he seemed to relax when Sayaka told them the news.  
This would be interesting.

(Hey, I think this was done before two months passed-I think? Maybe. I dunno xwx I tried so hard to get it done, but I forgot about it when we got this baby kitten the stray mommy rejected.  
Oh and to those that kindly rooted me on, the book was not published—but that's okay! It was painfully rushed work, and incomplete by my standard I just slapped on an ending that kinda sucked because I was down to the wire. xwx I am gonna finish it and try again somewhere else, maybe someplace that has more than 1400 facebook likes? XD  
Anyway, I am not putting this as a crossover because though the Nekoma arc is the last arc for the story, they're only going to do little cameo's now and then after this. Plus it will be a surprise for those who just started reading through. :3  
Hope ya liked it~ Please show you love through reviews/favorites/follows, sends me emails and reminds me that I have to update more. xDD  
And reviews fill me with motivation, which I need desperately-  
To those that may ask, yes one day Sayaka and Kuroo will have their own story as well. Fuck Kuroo is hot-I also ship him with Bokuto and Kenma so expect plenty of yaoi one day as well~)


	17. Chapter 16: Battle at the Beach

Atsushi hated running on the sand, it felt like he was about to slip and fall on his face every time he took his foot off the ground. He didn't understand why they had to do this so much—as in he wasn't paying attention when Shiori was talking about running in the sand helping their legs and general balance.  
He'd have to ask Chie-Chin why Shi-Chin was being so mean when they got back—but that did remind him of the best part about this.  
Once he got back Chie-Chin would be there and give him some water and tell him he did a good job…well maybe not the last half but she would at least be there to give him water.

Atsushi had found himself enjoying the rare praise she did give, even though it would be muttered and shortly thereafter he'd find her blushing and trying to hide it from him. It was a cute attempt but Atsushi was physically much stronger and was able to pull her back over and make her show him if he so decided. She naturally didn't like that, and ended up smacking him at one point or another when he released her. It was cute, but he really wanted to kiss her again, that last time was…really nice.

Broken from his thoughts when he heard Muro-Chin speak, Atsushi looked down and blinked at the raven haired male that kept up with the long legged Center thanks to his own stamina and Atsushi's laziness. "What is it?" He drawled and Himuro looked a tad bit amused before nodding to the side. "Look." Was all he said, and Atsushi turned his head to see the Nekoma team playing on the beach.  
Sitting on a bench was an older man and a slightly younger man that Atsushi assumed were the Coach and assistant Coach, though Sayaka was doing more of the coaching. He couldn't tell what she was yelling at them, just that it looked like she was yelling at them.  
The team was covered in sweat from working under the heat constantly, especially that kid with the long hair that showed them around the other day—Kenma, Sayaka's cousin.  
It was a miracle itself he remembered that name when all he could think of was Pudding Head when he saw him.

"They're good." Himuro mused as he watched the next set—the one with the Mohawk Sayaka later told them was Tora served normally, but as soon as the other team had it back over the net it was sent to the center by the Libero, Yaku as Himuro recalled, and Pudding Head, as Atsushi liked to call him, tilted his head back some and reached up. The ball went to the right and in a blur of motion Lev, the half Russian that seemed to have less of a problem being friendly with Sayaka right now, slammed it down with his long arm that reminded Himuro and Atsushi of a whip. Several people dived for the ball, but just got a face full of sand.  
"Are we really gonna play them?" Atsushi whined quietly before Okamura let out a barking laugh in the front. "Of course, Shiori-Chan said it could be good for us to have some fun! And she's looking up all the rules for us so we're not totally lost about it..." He said with an awkward laugh, but then noticed they were almost back to the gym.  
Atsushi didn't say anything more about it; though Himuro had a feeling it wouldn't be as hard as he thought it would be.

They got back to the gym doors and the girls were waiting with bottles of water for the team, handing them out from a cooler one by one. When Atsushi got his own from Chieko, he stared down at her with oddly soft amethyst hues. She stared back at him calmly before averting her eyes with a light blush. "You're holding up the line…." She said quietly, and he turned his head briefly to see other players waiting for water, covered in sweat and he slowly moved away.  
But not without reaching out and ruffling her hair—she had it down, which she didn't do all that often. It looked nice….  
"Alright, back to practice let's go!" Araki shouted at them and a few let out tired groans before heading back inside for a long practice session.

When night came everyone was pretty worn out from the day's practice, the coach was pushing them to their limit that was for certain and Shiori wasn't giving them any slack either. Atsushi complained most of the day about it but it usually just got a smack from Araki's wood sword before he was back to work again, but was more annoying was how Ayano would just sit there and stare at them before randomly taking a photograph.  
It was creepy but Chieko just told him to suck it up, that annoyed him more.

After dinner they were left to do as they pleased, and that was when Shiori and Sayaka had gathered them all up outside with the Nekoma regulars.  
"Since you guys don't have an actual trained Libero, Yaku-Kun is going to sit it out to make things a little fairer." The short boy didn't look displeased in the least, as he got to sit with the pretty girls all gathered on the bench Nekomata-Sensei and Naoi were seated at during their practice. "And I'll be your Setter." Sayaka added with a sly grin, resting her hand on her hip lazily.  
"_Somehow I don't think anyone will survive this game…." _Shiori thought bitterly when she saw the tight scoop top and small basketball shorts she wore. Kuroo noticed—his eyes were lingering in places they were more allowed to linger than anyone else.  
"That seems….fair…." Okamura said slowly, trying to keep his eyes up when he faced Sayaka. Hotaru felt a little self-conscious of herself around Sayaka, and a little more than slightly envious Okamura looked at her like that.  
Wait, what?

"I feel like there's going to be a lot of bloodshed." Ayano drawled as she adjusted the camera lens and the brightness settings so she could get good shots while not blinding the team. "If Atsushi knows what's good for him he'll keep his eyes up." Chieko hissed with her amethyst hues narrowed to near slits and Ayano's chocolate brown hues glinted slightly as they slid toward her taller figure. "Does that mean the rumors about you two are true?" She cocked a brow getting the other girls attention briefly.  
"R-Rumors?" Chieko spluttered, eyes widening some.  
"That you and Murasakibara-San are going out." Eri drawled and smirked at her increased blush, the normally snippy girl looking toward the very bored looking giant while he listened to Shiori and Sayaka explain volleyball's rules. "It's….complicated."

"Alright, think you got it?" All but Atsushi nodded, and Sayaka decided not to comment on that—as long as he didn't break any rules it was mostly good. Mostly.  
"Alright, the Captain's will flip a coin to decide who serves first." Sayaka jerked her head to Kuroo and Okamura nodded, heading over to the slightly irritated raven haired man.  
_"I feel like he wants to kill us from just standing on the same net as her…._" Okamura thought with pursed lips, but smiled back when Kuroo forced one back at him. "Let's have a good game." Kuroo drawled before producing a coin.  
"Tails for Nekoma, Heads for Yosen." Okamura decided as soon as Kuroo flipped it.  
"Lucky!" Fukui grinned lazily when it landed as Heads, throwing his arms up almost sarcastically. "Since we're so lucky you can serve Fukui-Kun." Sayaka grinned at his whine before giving Shiori a thumbs up. "Wish us luck pretty." She cooed making Shiori roll her eyes but nod. "Good luck guys." She turned and joined the other girls at the bench, blinking at Chieko's oddly flustered expression.  
"You alright?" Just getting a nod in return, Shiori decided to ask about it later and merely sat beside her best friend.

The formation was pretty good for the start; Sayaka was in the back right hand side with Atsushi on the upper left and Okamura in the center. Himuro was on his right and Wei was in the back left. They had a strong vanguard going right into it, and to Shiori it seemed like they wanted a strong receive in the back once the rotation went full circle. "Nice serve Fukui." Sayaka called as the ball went over the net with a simple serve.  
"Keep your knees bent Murasakibara-Kun!" Sayaka called before hurrying forward to the net.  
Nekoma's formation was good too; Kenma was in the same position as Sayaka was with Inuoka in the back for the time being with Kai. Kuroo, Lev and Tora standing in the vanguard.  
Of course Kuroo got the ball and sent it to the center. "Left!" Tora called as he headed to the side of the net. Kenma glanced toward him, and Atsushi noticed that and planned to go there until someone grabbed his shirt. "Go right." Sayaka hissed and he complied simply because he was closer to the right anyway.  
However it didn't go right, it went right over the net—right as Sayaka dropped to her knees and leaned back, sending a toss to Atsushi from the ground. "She sent a toss from the ground!" Hotaru gasped as the ball flew toward Atsushi. "It's all yours big guy!" Sayaka called with a sly grin, and Atsushi only grumbled because of the work he had to do.  
But it was strange, when he jumped and slammed the ball down it just seemed all too perfect.

Lev dived for the ball but missed by a wide margin. "Lev! This is why we practice dive receives!" Yaku barked from the bench with an angry growl making the half Russian laugh awkwardly. "Sorry Senpai!"  
Sayaka looked down at Kenma and flashed a toothy grin at her cousin. "I love you but I love winning more." She cooed and the boy seemed to huff quietly. "….Just don't overdo it." He muttered before getting back into position.  
It was always hard to get a service ace, and since they were new Sayaka didn't expect any aces from the team of course. She just knew she had to be fast and get the ball to the one in best position to score.

"Don't drop the ball." Sayaka cooed as Himuro bounced the ball to her on his arm, feeling the sting of it made him chuckle lightly. "I will try my best." Getting into swift position, Sayaka glanced around their side of the sand court but Nekoma looked ready for a dump—those two cats tended to think alike. She knew that, which is why she set it to Okamura. "Give it a good spike gorilla!"  
Leaping, Okamura let out a loud booming cry as he slammed down on the ball, but it bounced right back to their side of the court instantly. "Yay!" Kuroo grinned as he landed next to Tora and Lev, and Sayaka pouted some. "Damn that sexy block…" She whispered to herself quietly before waving her hand at the dejected Okamura. "Don't mind! Kuroo's one of the best Middle Blocker's sadly." He looked slightly better now, but Fukui had to make him suffer a little more.  
"How do you expect to impress Shigeko-Chan like that!?"  
Hotaru hid her face in Chieko's shirt while Eri cracked up laughing at Okamura's flustered blubbering.

It was their turn to defend, Sayaka stood up front with Wei and Fukui while Himuro and Atsushi were in the back this time around. "Get ready to block a spike from Kuroo." Sayaka whispered once she saw Kenma prepare to set the ball—both looked confused but nodded all the same.  
Once the ball was in the air, Sayaka took off to the left as Kuroo ran for it, thankfully their long legs made it easy to catch up and they jumped to block. However Kuroo hesitated before jumping and they were already falling. "Shit, in the back!" Sayaka called, looking over her shoulder as the ball flew past them.

Himuro dived and the ball flew up toward the net by some miracle, poor thing had to eat sand though to do it. "Ouch." Shiori cringed.  
Sayaka moved in place and tossed to the center. "Wei!" The Chinese man huffed before leaping up and spiking the ball down swiftly before the blockers could get there in time, they thought she might send it to Okamura to help lift his spirits some. She was always sympathetic like that, but also sly as a fox.  
She knew they'd think that too….  
"Good job, you might make MVP." Sayaka grinned at Wei, and for whatever reason just hearing that made Kuroo's mood worsen more.

"MVP?" Hotaru looked toward Yaku, sensing the rage coming off Kuroo and it scared her half to death of course. "It's something Sayaka did before her and Kuroo were going out, the Most Valuable Player of the game got a…motivating kiss…." Yaku cringed slightly himself at the dark satanic aura coming off Kuroo right then. "Jeez, what the fuck happened between those two…" He muttered quietly, scratching his head. "Don't worry though; I doubt she'll kiss anyone that's taken." Yaku said once he noticed Shiori and Chieko's rather agitated expressions, which quickly turned into adorably flustered ones. "Right…." Shiori laughed awkwardly, glancing away from them swiftly.

"Looks like it's my turn to serve." Sayaka whistled to herself as she spun the volleyball on her middle finger, ignoring Kenma's mildly worried look. Sayaka threw the ball into the air and raced forward before leaping up and slamming the ball forward hard, it zoomed toward the back corner because among all the Nekoma team that was just full of amazing receivers, she knew Tora was the worst at receiving hard serves.  
As expected, it bounced off him and to the side after nearly striking his face. "Ah fuck not fair Sayaka-Chan!" Tora whined with a pout and she winked at him before catching the ball once it was tossed back to her by Kenma. "We're in the lead." She cooed, glancing at the score board they'd been using.  
Nekoma was at 6 but they were at 9, soon to be 10 if she made this serve too.

Himuro watched the jump serve with a narrowed golden hue, but it widened when Kuroo moved in front of Tora and received it instead, sending it toward Kenma with perfect precision. "Thank you, Captain!" Tora grinned as Kenma got into position to set.  
"Send me a toss!" Lev cried as he ran to the side where there were no blockers. "Get over there!" Sayaka called to the vanguard, which at the moment was at its highest.  
Atsushi ran to the side with Okamura, both leaping up by Lev's arm snapped out like a whip and it went right down the side, Sayaka diving for it but it was far too fast.  
Kenma huffed quietly as his cousin got up, pouting some and mumbling about sand getting in her sports bra.  
Fukui had to look away when she started shaking her shirt to knock the sand out, as did many others to avoid Kuroo's dark looks. "Alright, shall we get that point back now?"

The end of the first set came and it was Nekoma's victory, 23 to 25, and Sayaka considered that immensely impressive for their first ever game.  
"I blame the height." She teased them softly before getting ready for Himuro to serve. She liked having him in the back; he was quite good at receiving and felt like he'd make a good Libero with the proper training.  
He impressed her even more by doing a perfect jump serve. "Nice serve Himuro-Kun!" Sayaka grinned; even more pleased he aimed for Tora and managed a service ace. "It's a lot harder than it looks, I'll say that much." Himuro chuckled before preparing another jump serve.  
This time he wasn't able to aim it for Tora, and Kuroo managed to pick it back up and head it toward Kenma. "Go Kenma!" Kuroo called, and before Sayaka could get over there he landed a dump over the net that Fukui wasn't able to catch. "Damn it!" Fukui growled, glancing up at Kenma as he stared at them intently.  
Somehow, they felt like he was watching them more than before….

Nekoma's serve was picked up by Wei and bounced to Sayaka, who then set it to Okamura with a whistle. "Take 'em down!" She called to the larger man, Hotaru finding herself bouncing in her seat. "Go Okamura-Kun!" Spurred on by the cheers, Okamura's spike blasted through Kuroo and Lev's block, mostly Lev's though.  
"Lev! I've told you a million times how to block!" Kuroo snapped at the Russian making him flinch slightly but smile awkwardly. "Sorry Captain!"  
He really did suck overall.

Though they battled hard, the battle went to Nekoma with a last minute quick from Inuoka. She forgot how much he'd been practicing his speed to keep up with Karasuno's #10 Shrimp, and no one had been expecting it as they hadn't seriously used any quick's besides Lev's occasional quick. "My bad, you guys did really well though." Sayaka smiled at the Yosen team before looking at their score—Nekoma 25 and Yosen 21, it had gotten a little stressful at the end there and they all believed they could have done better, however….  
"That was a lot of fun!" Fukui chirped, and Okamura nodded eagerly. "I must agree, volleyball may not be as fun as basketball but I did enjoy it." Himuro said softly, glancing at the sweaty giant beside him. "I think Atsushi enjoyed it too."  
Atsushi looked away, but didn't say anything against it. But they all knew he preferred winning above all else. Sayaka managed a grin before Wei recalled back to something she said before.

"So who do you think was the MVP of the game?" It really was said innocently, but Kuroo's dark expression made them all shiver. "Idiot." Ayano muttered before taking a snap shot of Kuroo's scary face. "Hmm….I think Himuro-Kun is, since he managed to pick up a jump serve just from watching me so easily! Quite the talent aren't you?" She grinned, and just before Shiori thought she was going to kiss him, Sayaka went over and grabbed Shiori by her shirt and dragged her over to Himuro. "Why don't you give him a kiss instead?!"  
Shoving her non to delicately, Himuro seemed to have caught on instantly because as soon as his arms wrap around her, his lips were on hers in a soft but passionate kiss.  
Wolf whistles erupted around them from both teams minus Atsushi, who is mostly looking at Chieko like he wanted to eat her which was making her highly uncomfortable.  
Damn that woman, putting her on the spot like that….  
It was impossible not to melt into his arms, from that sweet kiss….

Everyone disbursed to shower, allowing Sayaka to go first since there was only one large showering area before the girls headed back to their room while the boys showered.  
Once they arrived, Eri was the one that finally asked what was on most of everyone's mind.  
Most because Chieko Eri and Ayano didn't really give a damn, Hotaru and Shiori were just worried. "So why are you and Kuroo on such bitter terms right now?" She blurted out, and Sayaka blinked in mild surprise before plopping down on her roll out bed. "Wow, so blunt…I like it." She grinned slightly before looking out the window with a sigh.

"Chinatsu-Senpai—""Nah, it's cool don't worry about it. Truth is—it's kind of stupid…." Smiling bitterly, Sayaka glanced down at the Nekoma Jersey with Kuroo's number on the back. "So, a little while back we rekindled a rivalry with Karasuno, Nekoma's longtime rivals up until their old Coach retired. Kuroo really wants us to be a great team; he wants to have that standoff with Karasuno at the Nationals and let the Coach have his dream come true….He wants to bring us to nationals…It's something I always loved and admired about Kuroo, ya know?" There was softness to her voice, and a fondness in her eyes that made her look so docile and sweet to Shiori in that moment, but then she frowned and looked down.

"But Kuroo was putting in a lot of hours to the team, he was wearing himself out and whenever I tried to talk to him about it he'd brush me off, say I was just worrying too much….Or just ignore me, we hadn't had a date since we had that practice match too….The only real time I got with him was when he'd walk me home after school, even then it wasn't entirely alone. Kenma was usually with us until we got to his house, then it was mine and then his…." Sighing, she scratched her head before lying back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling with a blank expression.  
"I tried teasing him, maybe give him a hint I'd felt a little lonely and maybe that would help get him to take a break from working so hard ya know? If I could just get him to come over for a while, set up a movie rub his shoulders get him to sleep properly for once….I said something stupid…." Shiori's lips curled down when Sayaka's voice cracked somewhat.  
"_As much time you spend with the team and not me, I'd almost think you love the team more than me…._ Of course his response was pretty sour….He said if I didn't like having a boyfriend that worked hard for our team I should find someone that doesn't give a damn if they make it to Nationals….So I got even more stupid and said something along the lines of, _we'll see if you like seeing me flirting with someone else then_. Something like that, kind of fuzzy around then I was kind of crying….I think everyone still considers us together, but considering he never went after me when I ran inside….I think we broke up…." She mumbled and Sayaka turned on her side to wipe at her face furiously and took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Sayaka-Chan…." Hotaru whispered before coming over and hugging her from behind tightly. Sayaka's shoulders shook but soon Shiori was joining the hug, both trying to sooth the crying girl. She looked to be a tough woman, but really, she was just a little heart broken. Ayano and Eri weren't good at that sort of thing, neither was Chieko but she at least managed to try patting Sayaka's head.  
Damn her hair was soft.  
"So…that's why you dress like a total slut, to get Kuroo's attention?" Eri asked bluntly and actually made her laugh between sobs, but she nodded her head still. "Haha, yeah that's why….thought maybe he'd get pissed off or jealous enough…He was always such a possessive guy, it was pretty sexy but….He hasn't done anything…." She choked back a sob, wiping at her eyes. "It's such a stupid idea; I know….But I don't know what to do…." She trailed off slowly, trying to blink back tears.  
"Come on, let's go to the bathroom and wash you up." Shiori said softly, wiping Sayaka's eyes softly. "A-Alright…." Sayaka mumbled, standing up slowly before leaving with the three girls.

Chieko waited outside while Hotaru and Shiori helped Sayaka clean up, drumming her fingers along her thigh before a familiar voice yawned her name.  
"Chie-Chin?" Blinking amethyst eyes quickly, she turned and saw Atsushi exiting the boy's bathroom with drowsy purple hues. "What are you doing up?" Chieko frowned some as Atsushi came over and ruffled her hair, causing her to grumble and adjust it accordingly. "Had to pee….Why are you standing outside the bathroom?" He raised a brow himself as she let out a tired sigh. "Sayaka was upset about her and Kuroo…You showered with Nekoma right? Did he mention anything about her?" Atsushi tilted his head, almost looking like he was thinking hard but then….he shrugged. "Dunno, didn't talk to him. Why?" Sighing, Chieko scratched her head softly. "I think Hotaru and Shiori are gonna stick their nose in other people's business and try and patch things up between those two…." Sighing tiredly, she knew those two would drag everyone into getting those two back together. She had a feeling she'd get Himuro to help, too.  
"Hmm…." Humming, Atsushi's only reply was that as he stared her down intently. "W-Why are you looking at me like that?" She spluttered, staring up at him with a flushed face. "Nothing." He stated before leaning down and tilting her head up, silencing her protests with a deep kiss that made her knees knock together.  
She was not prepared for this!

"M-Mmn…!" Chieko couldn't help it; his kiss was a little….intoxicating. Atsushi's large hands gripped her hips while she latched onto his thick biceps through his shirt to stay standing, head tilting back as he dominated the kiss and her heart thoroughly.  
She pulled back a little to gasp for air, only for his lips to attack her and his tongue to slide into her mouth. The moan that tore from her lips as his tongue tangled with hers messily finally made her shove him off and she was quick to lean against the wall, panting hard. "Y-You can't just kiss a girl like that without have even taken her on one date!" She rasped out breathlessly, eyes wide and face flushed. Atsushi looked perplexed for a moment, licking his lips far too seductively before something dawned on him. "Oh, I forgot." He said it so simply too.  
"…..You….you forgot!?" She gaped at him as he stood there scratching his head innocently. "H-How can you forget something that!?"  
"I just enjoy being with Chie-Chin, Muro-Chin said I should take you out but then we had to come here and I forgot." He shrugged his shoulders and looked down at her with his lazy amethyst hues. "I'll take Chie-Chin out Maiubo shopping when we get home."  
She should have known that's what he'd classify as a date….  
"Night Chie-Chin." Turning on his heel, he was about to walk away before she blurted something stupid out.

"A-Atsushi…! A-A-Are we…a-am I y-your…g-girlfriend?" She finally asked, it might have been stupid but she felt like being stupid.  
Atsushi stopped and looked over his shoulder, a lazy smile playing across his lips. "Well, you are _my_ Chie-Chin….." And with that he left her to slide down the wall and curl up into a ball of embarrassment alone.  
Sayaka, Shiori and Hotaru came out and saw what state she was in, Sayaka unable to help making a crack about it. "Is it your turn to break down?" She joked, but Chieko just shook her head furiously and hid her flushed face. "Shut up! I don't want to talk about it right now!"  
Sayaka and Hotaru looked a little lost, but Shiori managed a smile.  
"Those Yosen boys are pretty frustrating, huh?"  
But just so irresistible.

(Honestly I am both amazed I wrote as much of that game as I did, or that I updated this again within a month! Both are amazing for me. xDD Haha, anyway I am not skilled in the art of volleyball, what I know is from watching Haikyuu so I sort of skimmed some parts and skipped through to the end after doin some shit.  
Dunno why I think Himuro would make a good Libero, some might think he'd be a better Setter I imagine but I think he'd be good at following the ball, and with such good reflexes for fakes I imagine catching the ball would be easy too ya know?  
Anyway, someone requested some more love for Sushi and I made it fit perfectly! :3 At least in my opinion.  
Ahem, sorry for any stupidity or mistakes, no Beta monkeys but myself after all.  
Also a quick news letter I will later add to my profile since this is my most read story.  
For those of you who are interested in keeping track of what I am working on and shit like that, check my profile but also-  
Currently I've started a yaoi fic for Haikyuu, a BokuAka fic because it's been in my head for a bit now. If you've read my KNB yaoi you'll know there will be serious gratuitous smut in it, but not in every chapter like My Sin is Greed. xD So if you're into BokuAka, check out Owl You Need is Love, yeah there are stupid Owl puns in it it's Bokuto after all.  
And for those of you who liked An Unlikely Deal, I've decided to do a sequel!  
It will be a One Shot again, however it will be SUPER long cause I am not gonna wanna do three stories at once. Because of that, it wont be posted for quite some time but that will be in the works starting tomorrow. Since I am gonna work on it after my shifts the next few days.  
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter will have a bit less action in it and more of them butting their lives into Sayaka and Kuroo's.  
I know the argument is a little stupid, but anyone who's dated anyone knows how stupid fights can be and how out of hand they can get so damn fast.  
Reviews give me motivation~ :3 )


	18. Chapter 17: All's Fair in Love and War

_"Ah, how did I end up in this situation again….?" _Himuro thought to himself bitterly as he stared up at the semi-taller Kuroo, really he only had an inch or so above him, both completely naked and alone in the bathroom because his girlfriend wanted him to talk to Kuroo about Sayaka for her.  
"If you think Sayaka would go for a guy who's dating another girl, you're seriously wrong, she'd slaughter anyone that'd try and cheat on their girlfriend let alone cheat on me herself."  
Ah fuck, this was seriously not going well at all….. Himuro's thoughts trailed from the feeling of impending doom he was getting from Kuroo's very angry glare behind his wet raven hair to how this all led up to this very painful moment.

Morning practice was going well for Himuro, his tag team with Atsushi was going a bit smoother even though getting him to practice still took Chieko being right there and watching him. He was fairly certain it took the possibility of Atsushi quitting to keep Fukui from teasing him about just wanting to impress Chieko.  
But Himuro had considered that was possibly why he was so compliant as of late.  
However during one of their jogs on the beach, he'd noticed the Nekoma team practicing and oddly….Sayaka wasn't wearing Kuroo's jersey, she was still wearing rather tight, small clothes that didn't leave much to the imagination but unlike every other time they'd seen her, she wasn't wearing his jersey…..  
He stupidly mentioned that to Shiori when he'd returned from the run, patting the sweat off his forehead and drinking water from the bottle she'd given him.

"What!?" Shiori snapped like it was all that surprising, to him it seemed like they'd break up at any moment now. To him, Sayaka not wearing his jersey anymore probably meant that they were done. But apparently Shiori did not care. "God damn it Chie come here we have to regroup, Sayaka's will is weakening we need to figure something out quickly!" Himuro was left alone, confused and sighing to himself again.  
"I feel like this won't go well for me."

Atsushi sat down beside Chie and Shiori while the Coach monitored the two on two match between Himuro and Fukui VS Okamura and Wei. It was an odd set up, but they wanted to see how well the two shortest players would do against the two taller ones. And Atsushi had been whining about being tired so the Coach let him go finally.  
What he walked in on was odd; the two were talking about that lady manager of Nekoma's. "She could have just forgotten it; it's hot outside I am sure she just didn't feel like wearing it in the heat. She is pretty tan, too." Chieko tried to reason with Shiori, but she looked very adamant. "She hardly wears anything I doubt wearing the jersey makes her overheat in the least." Was her grumbled drawl in return and it all just confused Atsushi.  
What does wearing a jersey have to do with anything….?

"What are you talking about Chie-Chin, Shi-Chin?" He finally asked them before they could start bickering over it again, spooking them both since they'd apparently been so into the argument they hadn't noticed the giant's shadow cast over their smaller bodies. "Fuck don't scare me like that Atsushi…." Chieko grumbled as Shiori let out a tired sigh. "Sayaka isn't wearing Kuroo-San's jersey, I am afraid she's given up on them reconciling." She informed the taller basketball player, but at his confused look, Shiori gained her own befuddled expression.

"What does her wearing Kuro-Chin's jersey have to do with anything?" He grumbled, scratching the back of his neck before he grabbed Chieko's bag and hunted for some sweets. She was so used to it by now; she didn't even care to stop him. "Boyfriends give their girlfriends their jersey's to wear, it's like telling everyone, "I am dating this girl so screw off" to anyone that looks at her. If Sayaka's not wearing it anymore, she could have given it back or he could have asked for it back and that's a huge thing." Both blinked when Atsushi stopped rummaging through Chieko's bag, and actually looked a little thoughtful.

"….So I should give my jersey to Chie-Chin and Muro-Chin should give his to you?" He asked Shiori bluntly and Chieko's face exploded in a scarlet hue instantly. "You should try wearing it yourself before giving it to me!" Still, he ignored her as he grabbed his own bag to hunt down the jersey.  
"Atsushi that is way too big for me—…." She was cut off by Atsushi dropping the very large jersey on her head, and then slowly he pulled it around her shoulders and then pat her head with his large hand.  
She just sighed and lowered her head as Shiori managed a small smile. "At least he understands." She said softly, glancing over at the steel door that led out to the beach where Nekoma was playing.

When lunch swung around Shiori hadn't bothered Sayaka about the jersey, said girl was pretty quiet while they made their food and Shiori was in charge of dishing it out to the boys once it was made behind the counter. When Himuro came around, she tugged him closer and whispered in his ear. "Could you talk to Kuroo-San for me? Ask him if we could play another game of volleyball with them later tonight once we're given free practice." Himuro looked confused but he nodded all the same. "Sure, but I hope you're not trying to get involved in their personal business." He said calmly, tilting his head some as Shiori looked away casually. "Of course not….."  
She so was, god damn it. This was where he got hooked because the sweet smile she sent him made his heart beat a little faster. So he walked away quickly to Nekoma's table.

"Kuroo-San, may I have a seat?" The Nekoma Captain lifted his head and swallowed the rice he'd been chewing and nodded. He looked less annoyed today, likely since Sayaka wasn't flashing her breasts at every poor guy in the building. "Go ahead."  
"Thanks." Settling down, he noticed Kenma's narrowed eyes on him before he resumed nibbling on the small bit of food he had in front of him between playing on his phone. No wonder he was so small.  
"I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to play another game with you guys tonight, everyone quite enjoyed playing." Actually he had no idea if they wanted to play again, but he was sure he could get Hotaru to help persuade Okamura into making everyone play if push comes to shove. "No problem, I enjoyed beating your asses." He grinned at the raven haired man, whose lips twitched upward some in amusement. "We'll see how it goes this time around, Kuroo-San."  
Instead of leaving the table for Yosen's, he stuck around Nekoma's and quite enjoyed talking to them. Yamamoto was quite amusing about how jealous he was over Yosen having so many pretty ladies taking care of them, until Yaku scolded him into silent embarrassment. They had such an amusing but perfect dynamic.

Then Sayaka showed up, glomping Kenma from behind and Kuroo's relaxed demeanor turned tense beside Himuro. "Kenmaaaaaa! You need to eat more or you'll be a shorty forever!" She whined as she cuddled him from behind, the boy shifting anxiously before settling with a sigh when he realized he'd have to deal with her clinging to his back. "If I eat anymore I'd pop, my stomach isn't big as yours to fit it all." Himuro couldn't help but snicker alongside Yaku and Yamamoto, and for a moment Sayaka looked torn between being offended and impressed with Kenma's burn. "Ugh, you're so clever, I love it so much." She sighed dramatically before plopping next to her cousin and picking at his food absentmindedly.

"Sayaka-San, I was hoping you wouldn't mind being our setter again during our game tonight." Himuro asked her rather bravely, and pretended not to notice Kuroo's sharp eyes flickering toward him, scrutinizing his intentions thoroughly. But Himuro had a perfect poker face.  
Kuroo wanted to play poker with him, Akaashi and Bokuto and see how that went really badly now.  
"Oh?" Cat like amber eyes lit up and she grinned, looking purely feral. "Sure, need to give my dear cousin a good work out again!" Kenma rolled his eyes before burying his face in his game, and Himuro only smiled as his thanks before he resumed eating.

"Sayaka-Chan, why aren't you wearing Kuroo-San's jersey?" Hotaru asked Sayaka as she stretched to get ready for their game; apparently it was easy to get Okamura to agree to play them again since he'd had a good time the night before, and Hotaru mentioned she had fun watching them play.  
"I don't see much of a point in it, Kuroo's probably gonna ask for it back pretty soon. We're not getting back together, I should learn to accept that before it's made final. It'll hurt less, that way." Sayaka said simply, rolling her shoulder before her amber hues directed toward the Nekoma team. "Maybe you're getting ahead of yourself…." She trailed off, and Sayaka merely shrugged her shoulders and smiled at Hotaru though. "Don't worry, thanks for your support I appreciate it." She walked over to the Yosen team to discuss strategy, but just before they began Shiori tugged Himuro to the side.

"Could you try and talk to Kuroo alone about Sayaka?" She asked quietly and the raven haired man looked at his girlfriend with pursed lips. "I am not sure how that's possibly going to go considering how defensive he is about her, if anyone looks at her the wrong way he looks like he's murdering you with his eyes." It was a sad fact, he saw Lev talking to the girl and Kuroo's stare made him run away after he finally got his question answered—worst part about it was, it was just about his serving posture.  
"Please Tatsuya; Sayaka really loves Kuroo I don't want them to end up broken apart like this because of something so stupid. I just don't want her to give up on them and if there's even the slightest sign that he still cares for her, then I am sure she'd have a much easier time working things out between them herself."  
That was a total lie, Shiori was so going to stick her head in where it doesn't belong regardless, but she was looking up at Himuro with such a cute face….  
"Please…." She added softly, and then leaned up to lightly peck his cheek. Oh fuck, was this what it meant to be whipped? He had a bad feeling about this situation, but he nodded all the same. "I'll see what I can do." The squeal and tight hug made it all worth it, well, up until this point…..

Himuro had gotten Kuroo pulled to the side after the match ended; of course they were the ones that lost. Nekoma was far more experienced even with Atsushi on their team. The team's general height class got them far, as did Lev's fuck ups, but in the end they let the ball drop. He'd managed to get him into a very deep conversation about volleyball, specifically blocking. Kuroo's weakness was he enjoyed teaching it seemed, and Himuro himself actually forgot what he was supposed to be doing until a mildly wet Kenma popped his head outside to let them know it was getting late and they should shower.

"Oh, my apologies Kuroo-San, I hadn't noticed everyone had gone in without us." Himuro said this honestly, because he had forgotten during their conversation. "It's alright, let's get cleaned up." Kuroo said with a soft laugh before the two headed inside.  
Ah now he had to figure out how to ask Kuroo without offending him anyway, or making it seem more than what it was. Damn this would be hard, Kuroo was rather…. sensitive about Sayaka.

Washing side by side in silence wasn't awkward or anything, but Himuro was unsure this was how he wanted things to go entirely. "Sayaka-San is an impressive Setter, as is Kenma-San did she teach them or did they learn together?" Himuro could instantly see Kuroo's shoulders tense up some at the mention of Sayaka, maybe it was because he used her first name, but she had been insistent on them all calling her Sayaka at least.  
"When I met Kenma and Sayaka, she was already playing volleyball. When I got into it she helped me teach it to Kenma to get him out of the house and away from those video games constantly. Subsequently Kenma learned to set from her, and she had always been the one telling him to analyze people he couldn't understand as well so he wouldn't offend anyone. He was never good with people, but he's really smart….I think he later mirrored her style unintentionally, but after she became Nekoma's manager she's helped him refine it more." There was a fondness to Kuroo's sharp amber hues that had Himuro thinking that there was still some love for Sayaka in there, unless that was directed toward Kenma-San but he didn't think that was the case.

"Sayaka-San does seem very sharp, watching her and Kenma-San having a battle of the minds like that was fun to watch even though I should have been paying more attention to the ball." He chuckled quietly as he rinsed the shampoo from his hair. "Yeah, she loves keeping people on their toes, maybe more than she should…." Kuroo's voice turned to a dark growl and Himuro resisted the urge to step away from him.  
"I think dating someone like that would be interesting, having to stay on high alert for surprises sounds exciting." He received silence and Himuro decided to be bold. "You are still dating aren't you? I noticed she wasn't wearing your jersey today though, but—"And that was where he fucked up.

And that was how Himuro ended up like this, staring up at a seething cat with territorial issues. This time, Himuro did step away from Kuroo. "Kuroo-San, I can assure you, I am very much happy with Shiori and I have no intention—"  
"—Then why as you sticking your nose into my business? Sayaka and I are far from broken up; she's just being childish and doesn't realize how much I need to focus on the team right now. This is our third year, and there's so much I want to get done for everyone, including her…." Kuroo grit his teeth and glanced away from Himuro, face clearly twisted into frustration and Himuro just sighed.  
"Because my girlfriend doesn't like seeing people sad, and Sayaka is apparently very sad….Kuroo-San, let's get some clothes on. I think I should just tell you what I know instead of trying to be secretive, this is awkward enough as is."  
Kuroo's brows furrowed some but he nodded and Himuro let out a sigh of relief before they finally finished their showers.  
Damn it would have sucked if he killed him in the shower.

"I honestly don't know all of the details like Shiori does, but apparently Sayaka's started to believe that you no longer care for her like you did before and Shiori was worried about you two breaking up over something stupid—not that I know what you two fought over, it's none of my business but Shiori is worried." Himuro was far more comfortable talking out in the hall with Kuroo, especially since he could run if the other got too angry. But actually, he just looked sad and confused. "Could I talk to Shinju-San? Find out what it is she knows about why Sayaka's like this?" Kuroo asked with a sigh before following him down the hall when Himuro nodded and led him to the girl's room. "Of course, and I know this isn't my business and I shouldn't say anything, but I think you two just really need to talk it out…."  
Kuroo sighed, but he smiled. "Yeah, I know….I am going to talk to her, but I want to know what Sayaka's been thinking before I go in unprepared. She really does keep me on my toes….."

Thanks to Eri, when Himuro pulled Shiori from the room everyone thought it was for a booty call. Shiori wished it was when she came face to face with Kuroo just down the hall. It was pretty awkward, Shiori fidgeted in place before Himuro gently nudged her to get her going. "A-ah….Sayaka told us what happened between you two, she said she was really worried about how you had been working yourself so hard and she was going to try and get you to relax and sleep….but you two had an argument and she said that she had said some stupid things….She told me she was dressing like she was to get your attention and get you jealous in hopes that you'd get all possessive over her or something like that, basically she wanted to see if you still cared…." Shiori mumbled quietly, glancing away from Kuroo's piercing stare. "But it hasn't worked, and she said she was trying to accept what was going to happen to her eventually so it would hurt less…." At that, Kuroo's semi-calm expression turned to a deep scowl.  
"Shiori-Chan, can you ask Sayaka to come to the kitchen so I can speak with her? I don't care how you do it, just do it." Turning on his heel curtly, he stormed off and Shiori swallowed.

"He's kind of scary…." She mumbled quietly, and Himuro let out a soft chuckle before shaking his head. "You asked for this by getting into their business….You also owe me getting me involved in this in the first place." He smirked down at Shiori, and she suddenly felt like his request would be far from innocent. "I-I am gonna go get Sayaka…." Speeding off down the hall, Himuro laughed before heading back to his room.  
Damn, was he tired….

Ayano always got hungry before she went to sleep, it was odd but a routine she'd formed over the years. The other's didn't seem to notice or care that she'd walk off just before lights out, though Sayaka was missing when she'd come back from the bathroom. Shiori was huddled under her blankets mumbling to herself incoherently and Chieko seemed to be consoling her, while at the same time calling her stupid for getting involved?  
She assumed it had something to do with Sayaka and Kuroo-San…..  
Either way it was none of her concern, she made her way to the kitchen deciding what she wanted to eat while she played on her phone absentmindedly. But once she opened the door, her shoulders tensed at the sight.

Sayaka, pinned to the counter very willingly, with her long legs and arms wrapped around Kuroo's muscular frame and his face buried in her neck, likely half the reason she was moaning. The other half was likely his hands wondering up her inner thigh….  
"T-Tetsurou…~" She mewled, and Ayano stood there a second longer before switching her phone over to the camera and turned the flash off.  
She took a picture and then headed back to their room, grumbling to herself quietly. "I am sure they'll be happy to see they made up…." But now she'd have to make Chieko give her some of her snacks so she could eat peacefully before bed.

(Make up sex really is great, at least so I've been told. XD Looky, an update within two months its a miracle!  
Apologies for any mistakes or typos and such, no beta monkey but I am still looking. I've really gotten into writing my Haikyuu yaoi so I actually almost forgot about this-  
My guilt made me write this chapter in two days. xD Sorry there was no scene between Sayaka and Kuroo on how they made up, I think I might leave that for their actual story? I haven't decided if I am going to put the events of this training camp in that or just pretend it never happened. Anyway, next chapter will be the end of the training camp, and then I am gonna do some fluff for the Yosen boys.  
And some smut, hehe.)


End file.
